Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

First, the terrace is a slum. That is the truth of it. Second, the city council has unanimously asked the Minister to designate the entire terrace as a national monument. It has not been developed at all. The families of the 1916 leaders and others have done significant work in publicising the issue and campaigning for a fitting national monument. I thank them for that. Tá mé fíor bhuíoch dóibh agus caithfimid uilig a bheith buíoch dóibh. As the Taoiseach correctly stated, this was the last headquarters of the Provisional Government. It is where Connolly, Pearse, Clarke, MacDiarmada and Plunkett all came together. It is where The O'Rahilly was killed, but under the developer's plan the place where he was killed would disappear and the terrace would disappear. What is being proposed is that an historic quarter would be developed from Tom Clarke's shop, which is now hidden behind neon and plastic, to the Rotunda where the volunteers were marshalled and stripped naked by the British, to where the surrender was handed over, right down Moore Street and further down into the GPO. The State controls the site through NAMA. It has been NAMAed. The Joe O'Reilly project is under the control of NAMA. It says a lot about the state we are in. We are also facing the centenary of-----

See this speech in context