Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I commend Deputy Ó Snodaigh, who has not just introduced this proposal but over the years has done great work, as has his family, to make sure the cultural and historical heritage of Ireland and this city is maintained and enhanced.

In the course of this debate we think about the sacrifices of those who fought in the GPO and the fact that Pearse read the Proclamation, an chéad Uachtarán Phoblacht na hÉireann, from the steps of the GPO on Easter Monday in 1916. All of that shows the historic nature of this building. As somebody from the country - a culchie - even when we were going to school we were always brought to see the GPO any time we came to Dublin. It has a special place in the hearts and minds of Irish people at home and abroad.

The GPO is also where RTÉ started off with Radio Éireann. It is hugely important. What is missing from the Government side is a bit of honesty around what is going to be defined as a commercial area. There is a small number of commercial units on one side of it, but we must be clear on what is being proposed. How many square metres are involved? Where is it to be located in the complex? Will it be a public-private partnership, PPP, as beloved by previous Governments? Will there be private sector involvement? They are the questions I have in this regard and I have not heard any of them being answered or coming up in the discussions.

What we do know is that an English developer owns the site around the back of the GPO. Some years ago, when I was only a number of months in the Dáil, Members went on a tour of the battlefield site around Moore Street. I was shocked to see the derelict state of the national monument and the terrace of houses along each side of it. The last meeting place of the Provisional Government was 14-17 Moore Street. It is a disgrace the way these buildings have been let fall into dereliction. Action should be taken on it immediately. It is a shame on all of us that this happened, but it is particularly a shame on the Department of culture and heritage under this and previous Governments.

Retail space and commercialisation should not happen. The city centre is full of commercial space. It is full of Costa Coffee outlets, takeaways, McDonald's restaurants and everything else. They have their place, as do department stores, etc., but there are lots of such buildings around. I would not object to some of the proposals that have been made.

Most people in this State are republicans to some degree.

Most people aspire to a 32-County Republic. Most people take their cue from the 1916 Proclamation. There are elements of that Proclamation that are not yet implemented - that must be said. Having an enhanced museum at the GPO and using the site for artistic and cultural purposes should be explored. The Government and its agencies are renting and leasing buildings here, there and everywhere around the city. Could some of those, particularly those used by the Office of Public Works or for other similar functions, be partially located in the GPO?

The national monument at the rear of Moore Street needs urgent action. I frame that in the context of the discussion here. When I first heard about this, I thought that this issue is not just about the GPO because the Moore Street sites have been allowed to fall into dereliction. Now the GPO is going to have increased commercialisation. There are plans for Bodenstown churchyard. I have been on to Kildare County Council and the Department of heritage about the plans to build a commercial graveyard beside it. Many Members go to Bodenstown churchyard every year under one guise or another. Different strands of Irish republicanism go there. Nobody and no political party has a monopoly on that. Bodenstown is another important site. The founding father of Irish republicanism is buried there and it is where the whole foundation of republicanism is honoured and remembered and where people recommit themselves to it. It is a national disgrace that there will now be a commercial cemetery adjacent to it. It will not be called Bodenstown cemetery but Wolfe Tone cemetery. If I have the details right, the proposals include one that the closer a person is buried to the actual Bodenstown cemetery and the grave of Wolfe Tone, the dearer the burial plots will be. People can buy plots there but the highest prices will prevail. It will be an absolute disgrace if that happens. Bodenstown is a national monument. As the Minister of State knows, if I were to seek to build a house, cattle shed or something else close to a national monument, for example, a ring fort, or something less important than that, all sorts of conditions would be attached and I would not be allowed to do it. Here we have a commercial development, with apparently some kind of commercial visitor centre, that is going to be landed adjacent to Bodenstown churchyard.

To move on to the debate around the naming of the national children's hospital, Kathleen Lynn was a volunteer in the Irish Citizen Army in 1916. Despite all her work and what she dedicated her life to, it seems Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents in Government could not bring themselves to call the hospital after Kathleen Lynn. We make a bags of the children’s hospital and Bodenstown churchyard. The battlefield site on Moore Street is in decay and dereliction, and now we are going to commercialise the GPO further. I am all for using that large space purposefully. I would be flexible enough regarding civic offices and some similar matters, provided there is a significant museum and cultural dimension to it and An Post retains its place there. As some Deputies said, it could also be used for artistic purposes. Some of those suggestions are well worth thinking about. It is now time to put a stop to all of this.

I ask the Minister of State and the officials present to take note of what I have said about Bodenstown. Kildare County Council will say its job is to grant planning permission and not make a judgment on national monuments. However, the Government, which the Minister of State is a member of, has a responsibility to protect sites of national importance. The burial place of Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown is a national monument. I have checked this out. The existing Bodenstown graveyard is owned by the county council. Beyond its walls, the land is private. Trying to commercialise Wolfe Tone, profit from the graveyard or turn it into any kind of commercial entity must not be allowed. It would be a disgrace if that happened.

It is still not too late to call the children's hospital after Kathleen Lynn instead of giving it the crass name of "The Children's Hospital". What is next? Will we have a proposal to put McDonald's and Costa Coffee up on the Rock of Cashel? Are we going to have something like that? Pearse read the Proclamation from the steps of the GPO. I have no doubt he had an input into the wording. He also wrote poetry. In one of his poems, he wrote: "Mór mo náir: Mo chlann féin a dhíol a máthair." Some of us will remember the words of that poem, "Mise Éire". It is unfortunate now that Pearse, the other leaders, the young working-class men and women of the Citizen Army and the young volunteers went in and took on the empire. They knew the odds were stacked against them before they went in there, but they knew what they were doing. They were prepared to put their lives on the line, with all of the disruption and heartache that caused for their families and everything else. We are now prepared to allow that to be desecrated. To do so would be a national disgrace. We need to revisit the words of Pearse, Connolly, Mellows and people like them and bring a bit of reality back into this debate. Some things are more important than money.

When I heard the term "mixed development" used, I recalled some of the most obnoxious developments I saw during the so-called Celtic tiger period. I am not against commercial development. Commercial developments have their place. I, and I am sure everyone in this Chamber, could bring the Minister of State around our constituencies and show him bad examples of mixed developments. We had apartments piled upon shop units, shop units piled in on top of residential areas and all sorts. We finish up with just vape shops, Costa Coffee shops, takeaway joints, etc., and nothing else. If that is what we are talking here, with mixed development being used as a cover for everything, it is a disgrace. It would be helpful for everyone to be upfront here and for us to be notified of what exactly is happening. Show us the detailed plans for these sites. I would like to see them. What exactly is being proposed here? In the meantime, I will support the motion.

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