Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I also welcome the presence of the Minister and the relatives of the leaders of 1916 Rising in the Gallery, whom I was fortunate to meet at a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage, Transport and the Gaeltacht. I will not repeat what has been said but it is important this issue is not politicised because all parties in this Dáil come from the foundation stone that was laid in 1916.

The Minister's commitment to heritage is obvious and I welcome the response he gave to the motion. I come from that part of the world from where Con Colbert, who was associated with the 1916 Rising, came. This is not only a Dublin issue, it is very much a national issue.

While I agree with a great deal of what has been said, there is a bigger context to this, namely, the total destruction of the north side of Dublin city centre from O'Connell Street out. It is not only Moore Street, which is main part of this motion. What Dublin City Council has allowed to happen to the main thoroughfare of our capital city during the past 20 or 30 years is a scandal. Where were the councillors when decisions were being made to turn the largest and one of the finest boulevards in the world into a monument of neon, plastic and tack and the surrounding three or so blocks around O'Connell Street? Where was the Dublin City development plan in this context? This is the same Dublin city development plan that was adopted recently and we found we had a massive problem with regard to a site for the national children's hospital. Yet the council could allow the destruction of the Georgian and Edwardian Dublin to the scale where the principal locations of where the 1916 Rising was fought has been shrouded by plastic and neon. It is a scandal to think that at no stage did Dublin city councillors, of any party, say that enough was enough when these development plans were being adopted. I found it embarrassing when, along with a colleague, Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, I stood facing the GPO during the 1916 commemorations in O'Connell Street a few months ago and noted that to my back there was nothing but plastic and all sorts of rubbish, for want of a better word, that has no place in the main street of any capital city, let alone a street that is of such historical importance as O'Connell Street.

What has happened in Moore Street is symptomatic of what has been allowed to happen to the entire north side of Dublin. It begs the question that if the 1916 Rising had happened on the southside, would we be even having this argument. We probably would not. That needs to be said. In fairness, the area has been very badly treated. I pull no punches when it comes to An Post either because, as Deputy Ferris said, one has to go rooting around to find the memorabilia that commemorate the 1916 Rising.

When one contrasts what we have in Dublin with sites such as Gettysburg, Antietam, Waterloo and anywhere a struggle for independence or battle took place one can see how successive management teams, council teams and governments have failed Dublin city centre. I am not from Dublin but this is of huge significance to me . What we allowed happen on O'Connell Street permeates outwards. With great aplomb we erected a monument to the Celtic tiger, namely, the Spire. It is a soulless characterless piece of metal dumped in the middle of O'Connell Street. It draws one's eye up to the top of it but what does one get then? One's eye returns to earth fairly rapidly with an anticlimactic "well, what was that about?". It is typical of what the Celtic tiger years did to the country. Perhaps consideration might be given to naming it after a certain politician who served the constituency of Dublin Central with such distinction.

I welcome the Minister's proposed amendment to the motion. I congratulate Sinn Féin. I can be very critical of Sinn Féin when I need to be, but in fairness it is an absolute scandal that we are even discussing in the Dáil what we have allowed happen to Georgian and Edwardian Dublin and to buildings with architectural significance never mind historical significance. Rural Deputies will know that some fellow from the local authority will come out to plank a preservation order on a bunch of rocks and stones with a bit of thatch on top of them. We have allowed the main street in our capital city to be turned into something like the sea front facade of a resort in the south of England. What Dublin City Council has allowed to happen is a scandal. Will the Minister, at the earliest opportunity, arrange for the manager of Dublin City Council to appear before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht so he can put forward a plan for this national thoroughfare because what the local authority has allowed to happen is an absolute disgrace?

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