Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom bliain úr faoi mhaise a ghabháil leatsa, a Cheann Comhairle, agus leis an Taoiseach freisin. Deputy Brian Stanley and I are moving a Bill for a single management agency for the River Shannon later this afternoon. I invite the Fianna Fáil leader and Government Deputies to support it.

For now, I am very sad to be raising again the issue of Moore Street in the first Dáil sitting of 2016. In the very first week of the centenary year of the Easter Rising, relatives of those who took part in the Rising and other activists were forced to prevent irreparable damage to the historic terrace at the national monument on Moore Street by occupying buildings there. It is damning after the long battle to save Moore Street that the relatives have had to take legal proceedings against the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in order for work to be halted at the last battlefield site of the most significant event in this nation's modern history, when a handful of republican volunteers went out against the biggest empire in human history.

5 o’clock

The Taoiseach has acknowledged that Moore Street is one of the most important historical and cultural locations on the island. The National Museum has described it as the most important site in modern Irish history. When the Taoiseach was in opposition and took a tour of it, he referred to it as the "lanes of history". Now, the national monument - the entire battlefield site - is in State ownership, but the Minister persists in carrying out a plan that was devised by discredited developers Chartered Land in conjunction with the retail developer Hammerson. Developers should not set the agenda. The Government must ensure that the historic quarter at Moore Street is redeveloped in the respectful, dignified and appropriate manner that befits its status. Will the Taoiseach give a commitment to ensure that all necessary steps are taken to develop the entire battlefield site at the historic quarter? If he considered it for a second, he would accept that such an initiative would be a major economic boost for Dublin, in particular for the north inner city's community. It would be a tourist mecca, educational hub and fitting memorial to the men and women of 1916.

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