This year, probably for the first time in the history of the compiling of the Excavations bulletin, the number of entries (and number of licences issued) has fallen. Is this a trend that is set to continue or are we likely to see a stabilisation of numbers at about 2000? Only time will tell. But we are continuing to see a growing number of licences being issued in Northern Ireland, so the ‘Tiger’ phase may not be completely ended! The year 2004 also saw the introduction of sites being excavated under ‘ministerial direction’. This year also has seen a number of cave excavations taking place, in various parts of the country and with various results. To move then to a very different, industrial, type of site, several tanneries were excavated, particularly in Dublin. This is a site type whose numbers have been growing steadily in the bulletin in the past few years.

As has been the case for many years now, Dublin led the way with the number of excavations within the county, with 221 summaries received and a further 21 licences issued. Meath comes in second place, with 204 summaries (and 7 further licences issued). Again, road developments, in particular the N2 Finglas–Ashbourne road scheme, were the reason for the many sites investigated in this area. Cork comes in third, with 161 summaries (and a further 23 licences issued). At the other end of the scale, the least number of excavations took place in Fermanagh, with 4 summaries received (and 4 further licences issued), followed by Tyrone, with 7 summaries (and 3 further licences issued), and Laois, with 14 summaries (and one other licence issued). These three counties have been consistently among those where least archaeological work takes place for several years now.