This edition of the annual summary contains the largest number of annual excavation summaries to date (2,214), with at least a further 193 sites for which summaries were not received. Contained within its covers is a useful overview of what was happening at the height of development activity throughout the country.

This year there is an interesting and varied range of sites, including what seems to be a Neolithic fulacht fiadh at Moher Site 5, Co. Leitrim, and the Mesolithic fishing baskets from Clowanstown, Co. Meath, which have been attracting appropriate attention elsewhere. The Kinsale battlefield also receives some attention, perhaps reflecting renewed interest because of the 400th anniversary of the Flight of the Earls, which was about to be commemorated in 2007.

Bennett’s comments on the distribution of the excavations are interesting: ‘Unlike the past many years, Dublin this year is surpassed by Meath in the numbers of excavations carried out in that county, with 179 reports received. Dublin had 154, followed by Cork with 141 and Tipperary with 142. Again these concentrations are mainly caused by road schemes. The quietest counties for such activities are Longford with 12 sites, Monaghan with 16 and Clare—formerly a very busy place—with 21. It will be interesting, in the future, to see what site-distribution maps will look like, and how they will compensate for the linear distributions of so many monuments, and mostly on lines radiating out from Dublin!’