Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The forthcoming centenary celebrations of the 1916 Rising are particularly important and the preservation of Moore Street is, of course, a priority. The decision by the Government to grant permission for the development of Moore Street to go ahead is tantamount to the obliteration of what the National Museum has called the most important site in modern Irish history. The Government proposals to turn Nos. 14-17 Moore Street into an interpretive centre, while welcome, are inadequate and fail to match the reality that this is the most important historic site in modern Irish history.

Sinn Féin fundamentally disagrees with the decision to grant a licence to Chartered Land to demolish Moore Street and turn it into a shopping centre. As a new Minister to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, will the Minister revisit this decision and will she review the evidence presented to her Department? The Taoiseach is meeting the relatives as we speak and I hope that meeting will be a fruitful one. Has the Minister met with the Taoiseach yet to discuss Moore Street?

See this speech in context