Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

UNESCO sets out a formal process for State signatories to the World Heritage Convention for the purpose of nominating properties on their territory for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The nomination process is initiated by the relevant State authorities, which draw up a tentative list of what they consider to be the most important heritage sites within their national boundaries. The tentative list is compiled with a view to providing a shortlist of potential sites for possible submission to UNESCO for inclusion in the World Heritage List. UNESCO will consider nominations for World Heritage status only from those sites included on a nation's tentative list.

In 2008, the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government established an expert advisory group to review Ireland's tentative list and to identify the Irish heritage sites which best met the criteria for inclusion on the World Heritage List. A particular criterion is for a site to be considered to be of outstanding universal value, defined by UNESCO as meaning that it is of "cultural and or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity."

Following full public consultation and consideration by the expert advisory group, a new tentative list for Ireland was approved and submitted to UNESCO in March 2010. The list was selected following an inclusive, consultative and scientific process that set out to identify the sites that most closely corresponded to the selection criteria laid down by UNESCO and, crucially, that met the definition of outstanding universal value. The sites were selected on the basis that they stand the best possible chance of successfully making their way through the rigorous evaluation process applying to nominations put forward for the World Heritage List.

A proposal for the historic city of Dublin is included on Ireland's tentative list with the justification for its outstanding universal value based, inter alia, on the development of Georgian Dublin, the city's contribution to world literature, the establishment of the Wide Streets Commission and the range of buildings of high architectural quality. I am, of course, acutely aware of the significance of the GPO and Moore Street area as the location of key events that ultimately led to the foundation of the State and of the importance of preserving and celebrating that legacy as part of our national history and heritage.

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