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

Members have lauded the campaign groups. The campaign groups want it to be recognised as a national monument. This is Irish politics to the core - saying one thing, embracing a campaign and then doing the opposite. There is no reason commercial development could not take place on the site if it is made a national monument. I want commercial development to take place on it because it will otherwise remain derelict as, by God, the State will not develop it. As Deputy Gerry Adams stated, 100 years have passed but the State has not developed the site.

Interestingly, the Minister referred to the inadequacy of the Bill. The current condition of Moore Street is inadequate. A quarter of our capital city, adjacent to some of its principal streets, is derelict. It is used for alcohol and drug consumption. People defecate on the street next to traders who are trying to eke out a living. The Minister is sitting on her hands yet she called the Bill inadequate. The Government should be ashamed of the state that Moore Street is in. That shame should engender a response. However, inertia is the response because the rule in this country is that if a private interest is involved in something, be it healthcare, housing or anything else, we must defer to it.

The forum is functioning but, as many Members indicated, it has hit a rocky stage in recent times. The owners of the land have met the forum possibly twice. I have been pushing hard for them to meet with members of the forum. I am not a purist in terms of the outcome here. I want a reasonable compromise. I do not want people to be arguing about the tiniest details forever. I want a result. The way to get a result is to set the parameters within which it can be achieved. National monument status is the relevant parameter.

Teachta Ó Cuív has raised The Moore Street Report - Securing History. That document is gathering dust. When first asked to sit on the forum, I was extremely cautious about doing so because my instinct was that the Government wanted to kick the issue of Moore Street to touch and believed that by filling the forum with many interested parties, it would create a talking shop that would go on forever. However, there is deep frustration on this issue and I guarantee that unless the Government grabs it by the scruff of the neck, we will still be discussing it in several years time.

The Government and Fianna Fáil have agreed what they wish to do on the issue. It is not new. This is so-called new politics. It is a pity. We will go back to the forum and do our best to resolve the issue of Moore Street being a national monument. However, this issue will not be dropped. Neither I nor many others on the forum will accept any development of Moore Street that does not take place as part of its being a national monument. Anything that is contrary to it being a national monument will not be-----

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