Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

According to the national monuments legislation, a national monument is a national monument regardless of whether a Minister states it to be so. Therefore, the GPO is a national monument. It has never been officially declared one but, if it came under threat, it would be the moral and legal duty of the Minister to issue a preservation order to protect it. Her Department has stated clearly and officially that the Moore Street battlefield site is a national monument, yet she has refused to date to identify a large number of buildings in that space as comprising a national monument and to issue a preservation order. Is the Minister not derelict in her duty regarding these buildings, given that they are under pressure owing to a very large planning permission application, if she does not issue a preservation order?

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