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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 38 and 42 together.

Nos. 14-17 Moore Street are the subject of a preservation order under the National Monuments Acts. The effect of the preservation order is that any works affecting these properties require the consent of the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht under section 14 of the National Monuments Act 1930, as amended. The landowner’s application to my Department for consent to proposals that include the provision of a commemorative centre to the 1916 Rising and its leaders on the national monument site is being examined.

The approval given by An Bord Pleanála in 2010 for the wider development that includes the national monument site requires the applicant to revert to the planning authority with revised proposals in respect of certain elements of the development. The processes under the Planning Acts and the National Monuments Acts are entirely separate and any requirement or condition imposed under one process stands independently of the other. My consideration of the consent application and the associated environmental impact assessment is being undertaken on that basis.

As part of the consent process under the National Monuments Acts, the applicant was asked by my Department to submit an environmental impact statement on the proposals for the national monument site. This is in accordance with section 14D of the National Monuments Act 1930, as inserted by the European Union (Environmental Impact Assessment of Proposed Demolition of National Monuments) Regulations 2012. The new provision places additional responsibilities on landowners in respect of national monuments protected under the National Monuments Acts. An environmental impact statement was submitted to my Department on 25 January 2013. In accordance with the consultation procedures prescribed in section 14D of the National Monuments Act 1930, it was made available for a five week period to allow for examination by the public and lodgment of submissions or observations with the Department.

In the meantime, the Department has informed the consent applicant that the newspaper notice published on 18 January 2013 on the submission of the environmental impact statement was not compliant with the requirements of section 14D of the National Monuments Act 1930 in that it did not state the nature and extent of the proposed demolition. The applicant has accordingly been required to publish a further public notice, the timing of which is a matter for the applicant. In practical terms, the requirement for a new public notice will recommence the five week period for submissions or observations to my Department on the environmental impact statement. It will be open to Dublin City Council’s Moore Street advisory committee to offer its views on the environmental impact statement during this period. Having completed the prescribed consultation procedures in relation to the environmental impact statement, I will then proceed as quickly as possible to undertake a formal environmental impact assessment and make a decision on the consent application itself.

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