Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On 23 April 2014, the eve of the 98th anniversary of the 1916 Rising, the Government announced that, through NAMA, it would invest €5 million in refurbishing and restoring the section of Moore Street which had been designated as a national monument, that is, Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street. This was re-announced five months later by the Minister for Arts and Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys. She announced further funding to develop a commemorative centre on this last outpost or GHQ of the Army of the Irish Republic in 1916, the place where they treated with the British for surrender.

The Minister, Deputy White, is also aware, I presume, that in six short months we will have the 100th anniversary of this seminal period of Irish history. The families of those who led and took part in the Rising have sought for this Government and the previous Government to take the required steps not only to secure 14 to 17 Moore Street but to protect the entire battlefield site and to faithfully restore it as fitting tribute to those who raised the flag of the Irish Republic 100 years ago.

Given that the loan portfolio called Project Jewel, owned by the developer Joe O'Reilly of Chartered Lands, is being sold as we speak by NAMA and includes the area identified as that battlefield site, will the Government instruct the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, to issue an instruction to the NAMA board, as he has done on several occasions before on other issues, to the effect that NAMA must ensure that the site as identified is protected?

Does the Minister believe that the whole area, from the GPO to Parnell Square, including Moore Street, should be recognised as a 1916 revolutionary quarter and, as such, be marked and designated a national monument?

Further, how is it in the interests of the people - whose interests NAMA is supposed to protect, and whom the Government is supposed to serve - to dispose of the entire site in the manner that NAMA intends - that is, to the highest bidder? Let us remember that the National Museum has identified this site as the most important historical site in modern Irish history.

Under what terms has the designated national monument at 14 to 17 Moore Street been transferred to the State? Has it been valued and, if so, by whom? Can the Government commit to stating, even at this stage, when that work will begin on the site, if it begins at all?

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