Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the restoration of the national monument on Moore Street. It is nearly 20 years since I first put forward a motion to Dublin City Council proposing that No. 16 Moore Street, where the last council of war was held, with James Connolly, Pádraig Pearse and other signatories to the Proclamation, be made a protected structure and a 1916 commemorative centre. I put forward the original motion when the National Graves Association brought to my attention the unauthorised removal of the 1916 commemorative plaque, which had been erected in 1966, 50 years after the Rising. Together with the National Graves Association, I established the Save 16 Moore Street campaign. This led to the eventual recognition of Nos. 14 to 17 together with the GPO in 2007. The Moore Street national monument was at that time in private ownership and I opposed a number of large-scale planning applications for the site and its environs as recently as 2010. I also gave evidence at oral hearings, most recently in 2010, opposing the manner in which the planning application for that development was put forward.

James Connolly Heron and other relatives of the signatories became deeply involved in the campaign in the last number of years and thankfully in 2015 the national monument passed into the ownership of the State. It is right and proper that a national monument of such significance be held in the possession of the State and that the State take full responsibility for its restoration. We must remember that under the legislation, the restoration of the national monument has to be carried out under the auspices of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, in consultation with the director of the National Museum, so there is already a monitoring process in place. It is now essential that the restoration work on the national monument goes ahead without delay, so that Moore Street national monument can play its rightful role in the centenary commemorations. This national monument should be developed together with the neighbouring national monument, the GPO, which was the headquarters of the Easter Rising, in a manner befitting their iconic importance in the history of our Republic.

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