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

I welcome the meeting between Hammerson and the ministerial forum but the forum will never agree to anything that is in any way incongruent to a national monument. The ministerial forum, therefore, is in no way negatively disposed towards the idea of the Minister issuing a preservation order.

Anyone who goes to Moore Street will see it is frozen in dereliction. It is frozen because of the hiatus the Government has created in the area. I am asking the Minister to break that hiatus with a simple decision, namely, to turn Moore Street into the vibrant cultural and historic quarter it could be. The traders on the street are prisoners of the Minister's policy. The inertia of the Government is putting them into a sterile area where it is really difficult to earn a living. I will introduce in the Oireachtas next week a Bill seeking that the Oireachtas identify Moore Street as a national monument.

The responsibility is the Minister's. The planning application is live. Nothing is stopping that planning application from proceeding. I urge the Minister to do the right thing and issue a preservation order.

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