Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after “That” and substitute the following:Dáil Éireann declines to give a second reading to the National Monuments (The Moore Street Battlefield) Bill 2018 in order to allow the Moore St. Advisory Group to continue and conclude its deliberations, given that the Bill, as proposed, is pre-emptive of the on-going work of the Group, which‒

(a) has broad political representation; and

(b) is actively addressing the issues to which this Bill relates and the recommendations of the Moore St. Report – Securing History, prepared and agreed unanimously by an earlier consultative group with similarly broad political and stakeholder representation.

I have listened carefully to what Deputies Tóibín and McDonald have said and I share with both of them the same sense of the great importance of the 1916 Rising and its central place in the history of our State and of the importance of remembering it and preserving the traces that remain of the events that took place at that time. None of this is lost on the Government, which can look back with justifiable pride and satisfaction at the wonderfully successful and highly inspirational programme of commemorative events that took place two years ago. They drew in communities from every county in the country in unprecedented numbers to pay respectful tribute to the 1916 leaders and to the sacrifices they made on our behalf to give us our independence and our right to self-determination.

However, while the Government fully appreciates the constructive motivations that brought the Bill about, for reasons that I will clarify, I am seeking to have further Second Stage consideration deferred to allow other initiatives come to fruition which have greater potential to facilitate an appropriate regeneration of the Moore Street area in a way that will recognise its history and traditions and ensure they continue to have pride of place in a part of Dublin that is crying out for rejuvenation.

No. 16 Moore Street is where the decision to surrender was made by the leaders of the 1916 Rising. Nos. 14 to 17 were declared a national monument in 2007 as the most authentic, complete and coherent collection of surviving pre-1916 buildings on Moore Street with clear associations to the Rising. Each of the buildings has extensive original features, including plasterwork, partitions, staircases, doors, floors, fittings and fixtures. The 18th century building form and profiles also survive. Most significant, there is also evidence of the presence of the insurgents themselves in the form of the passageways they burrowed through from building to building during the final phase of the Rising.

Earlier proposals to secure the restoration of the national monument through a combination of funding from NAMA and a property exchange between Dublin City Council and the developer within the surrounding Dublin central development site did not materialise. The monument buildings were then acquired by the State from NAMA in 2015 with a view to having them open to the public in time for the centenary. The House will generally be aware of subsequent developments including the proceedings in the High Court, to which the Deputies referred, and those in the Court of Appeal. All of this culminated in the establishment of the Moore Street advisory group which right now is working and making progress on finding solutions to the future regeneration of Moore Street in a way that reflects its history and culture and, most importantly, the events that played out there in the closing stages of the Rising. This group was established by my predecessor in May 2017 and its membership includes Deputy Tóibin, who is promoting this Bill; Deputy Burton and Deputies O’Cuiv and Maureen O’Sullivan who are in the Chamber.

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