Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While I convinced several American visitors to stay in Meath for several days rather than in Dublin, when they eventually visited the city, they were impressed by its magnificent buildings. People from both home and abroad are always impressed by Dublin's magnificent and historic buildings.

The Central Bank's principal offices are contained in the famous building designed by Stephenson and Gibney in Dame Street, Dublin. This very distinctive and assertive building, which was controversial when it was built in the late 1970s, was specially designed bespoke accommodation for Central Bank functions. It has been reported that the Central Bank is proposing to move its headquarters into what is currently a partially completed building in Dublin's Docklands once it has been fitted out in about three years' time. I am advised the Central Bank also uses several other offices in Dublin for its staff. I also note that another major banking property in Dame Street is coming on the market soon.

The Bank of Ireland at College Green is also a very distinctive building and is probably one of the most iconic buildings in Dublin city. This building was the first purpose-built parliament in Europe. It was completed in 1739 and it served as Ireland's Parliament until the Act of Union in 1801. After that, generations of Irish parliamentarians from Daniel O'Connell to Isaac Butt to Charles Stuart Parnell campaigned for the creation of a new Irish Parliament, which ironically almost happened. A return of the College Green building to the people and to public use could be a tangible response to the voices of history.

The design of Edward Lovett Pearse for the parliament building was revolutionary in that pre-revolutionary age. The building was effectively semi-circular, occupying almost 1.5 acres. It also underwent extension by the architect James Gandon, the man responsible for three of Dublin's finest buildings, the Custom House, the Four Courts and the King's Inns. Pearse's building was to open directly onto the green. The principal entrance consisted of Ionic columns extending around three sides of the entrance triangle and forming the letter E. There were also statues representing Hibernia, Fidelity and Commerce above the portico. James Gandon was responsible for the new entrance at the east of the building facing on to Westmoreland Street, rendered distinctive by its Corinthian columns. Robert Parke was responsible for the extension to the west side onto Foster Place. Thus, the building is not only important from a parliamentary point of view, it also tracks the history and progress of Irish design through the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Bank of Ireland at College Green has been chosen by two of the great political orators of our time as the site for their seminal speeches in Ireland, namely, Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. The building is at the hub of the nation's capital, the meeting and convergence point of the main arteries of the city. It is situated close to the original heart of historic Dublin and is almost of a vintage with Trinity College. To Dublin, College Green has the potential to become a cultural and iconic counterpoint to the great city centre nuclei and city squares of the world, including the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Trafalgar Square in London, the Place de la Concorde in Paris, Times Square in New York, without its craziness, St. Peter's Square in Rome, the Piazza Navona in Rome, Piazza del Campo in Sienna - I have never heard of some of these places before - Covent Garden in London, Hotel de Ville in Paris, Plaza Santa Ana in Madrid, Federation Square in Melbourne, Tiananmen Square in Beijing and the Grand Place in Brussels.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Deenihan, has had several engagements with the senior management of the Bank of Ireland about the College Green building. Bank of Ireland regards this building as the jewel in its crown, commercially as well as architecturally. The College Green branch of the Bank of Ireland is probably its busiest branch in the network and, I am advised, contributes significantly to the group's bottom line.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Deenihan, believes that it is implied in the Deputy's motion that a new cultural asset could simply be created by arranging a straight swop of one building for another. The idea of a swop implies that the Central Bank would have to surrender its current headquarters building in Dame Street and this would involve a significant write-down of asset value on its balance sheet. The Minister doubts if this would be acceptable to the Department of Finance. In addition, there would be substantial costs involved in adapting the College Green building to cultural uses and in professional fees and also in maintaining the building in future. The scale of funding required for such a project is currently beyond that available to my Department. However, the Minister will continue, where appropriate, to engage with Bank of Ireland senior management on the matter of the building lest the policy with regard to the building and other circumstances change. I am unsure whether that is the reply Deputy Humphreys wanted to hear.

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