Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

This is a particularly important issue as the centenary of the 1916 Rising looms nearer every day.

Moore Street is an area that was very much part and parcel of the 1916 rebellion. As a result, a campaign, of which I was a participant, began several years ago to save No. 16 Moore Street, which was the last headquarters of the leaders before the final surrender. The previous Government agreed to designate Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street as a national monument. Therefore, there are two national monuments in the area: the GPO, which is directly associated with 1916; and Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street, which is the location of the final stage of the battle that took place there.

The National Graves Association has been very much to the forefront in leading the campaign, as has the Save 16 Moore Street campaign, which is headed by Mr. James Connolly Heron, the great-grandson of James Connolly, and relatives of the survivors of the 1916 rebellion and particularly of the signatories of the Proclamation.

Moore Street has become derelict over the years. The integrated area plan, that was established to develop O'Connell Street, Moore Street and the environs, was bedevilled by legal wrangles and as a result, in the years of the Celtic tiger the development that was supposed to take place never really took place. Apart from the enabling works by Dublin City Council in O'Connell Street where they improved it considerably, the work has not proceeded as it should have.

In March of this year, the property developer Mr. Joe O'Reilly, who headed up a consortium for Chartered Lands, secured planning permission for the development of the site. He has six years to carry out the development. However, many of us know that a number of Mr. O'Reilly's business loans with Irish banks are now in NAMA and there is a major question over Mr. O'Reilly's capacity to develop it.

The planning permission includes the demolition of some of the buildings surrounding the national monument and some of the fabric of Nos. 16 and Nos. 14 -17 Moore Street. I agree with the Save 16 Moore Street campaign that the entire terrace of houses should be conserved and that the backlands and the curtilage, which are an integral part of the national monument, should be preserved in that context.

We are only five years from the centenary commemoration and it is important that the Government declares its intention on how it will proceed with that objective of preserving the national monument and promoting it in the context of the centenary commemorations. The Shaffrey report commissioned by Dublin City Council contains many good ideas and recommendations. That remains the basis on which progress can be made, but the National Museum and Office of Public Works, and maybe the Heritage Council and the Government, need to get directly involved at this time to ensure that there is direct supervision over what takes place.

The private sector is unlikely to be in a position to proceed, one way or the other. The private sector planning application contains many flaws and at this time, we need to look at the entire monument. Dublin City Council passed a motion stating that there should be a museum on that site, but we must look at the entire monument with a view to seeing how it can be best conserved and developed in the context of the commemoration of the leaders of 1916.

I have raised the issue here in the past, but there is a new Government and it will be in place until 2016. It behoves the Government to take the initiative at an early stage to decide what will happen to those two national monuments to begin to prepare for the 1916 centenary, and that it be done in the most comprehensive and inclusive fashion to ensure that those monuments will be part and parcel of our heritage for the future and that we can build on that in a most respectful and patriotic way.

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