Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will seek to add the GPO/Moore Street battlefield site to the current list of site on the UNESCO World Heritage list submitted by the Irish State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13162/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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UNESCO sets out a formal process for State signatories to the World Heritage Convention for the purpose of nominating properties on their territory for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The nomination process is initiated by the relevant State authorities, which draw up a tentative list of what they consider to be the most important heritage sites within their national boundaries. The tentative list is compiled with a view to providing a shortlist of potential sites for possible submission to UNESCO for inclusion in the World Heritage List. UNESCO will consider nominations for World Heritage status only from those sites included on a nation's tentative list.

In 2008, the then Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government established an expert advisory group to review Ireland's tentative list and to identify the Irish heritage sites which best met the criteria for inclusion on the World Heritage List. A particular criterion is for a site to be considered to be of outstanding universal value, defined by UNESCO as meaning that it is of "cultural and or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity."

Following full public consultation and consideration by the expert advisory group, a new tentative list for Ireland was approved and submitted to UNESCO in March 2010. The list was selected following an inclusive, consultative and scientific process that set out to identify the sites that most closely corresponded to the selection criteria laid down by UNESCO and, crucially, that met the definition of outstanding universal value. The sites were selected on the basis that they stand the best possible chance of successfully making their way through the rigorous evaluation process applying to nominations put forward for the World Heritage List.

A proposal for the historic city of Dublin is included on Ireland's tentative list with the justification for its outstanding universal value based, inter alia, on the development of Georgian Dublin, the city's contribution to world literature, the establishment of the Wide Streets Commission and the range of buildings of high architectural quality. I am, of course, acutely aware of the significance of the GPO and Moore Street area as the location of key events that ultimately led to the foundation of the State and of the importance of preserving and celebrating that legacy as part of our national history and heritage.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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It is almost impossible to talk about Dublin's rich literary tradition without simultaneously acknowledging the centrality of the battlefield site. Sean O’Casey’s work, particularly his dramatic trilogy, use both the events and the setting of Moore Street and the GPO in 1916 as a central prop. If one extracts the events and setting from O’Casey’s work it becomes meaningless. Does the Minister agree that the events, setting, streetscape and urban fabric of the site had a major influence on the social and cultural evolution of the people of Dublin? Does he accept that James Joyce extracts from the rich urban quilt the key personalities, eccentricities and stories without which he could not have written Ulysses? Does the Minister agree that the city, particularly the city centre and the Moore Street battlefield site as a setting, has made an extraordinary contribution to world literature and that the site in its totality, with its literary, architectural and urban fabric, needs to be recognised as having had a formative influence on the writers mentioned, on the works mentioned and on others writers such as George Bernard Shaw, Roddy Doyle and Brendan Behan? Will he acknowledge that the site has been a central element in works considered to be of great human creative genius?

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I accept everything that Deputy McLellan says and I am sure the House would as well. We have several tentative sites. The next step is to evaluate the sites further with a view to ultimate designation. Representatives of the Céide Fields, including Seamus Caulfield, were in contact with me and I met them. They are very anxious to designate the Céide Fields in Mayo as a World Heritage Site. There are some concerns there about planning permission, as there are in Clonmacnoise. In order to advance the process I have requested that UNESCO send us their expert in this area very soon to discuss the tentative sites and how we can advance these sites to full heritage status. That is the next step in the process. Becoming a World Heritage Site is quite complicated. There must to be major consultation with stakeholders, including the local community. That is a fundamental part of the process.

Following submission of a nominations file to UNESCO, it is evaluated by three advisory bodies, including the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the World Conservation Union and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property. There is a process of evaluation to go through that takes some time. I hope that after this meeting and following this consultative process, we will have a clearer pathway forward.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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The site is directly associated with events, ideas, beliefs and works of outstanding universal significance. Does the Minister accept that symbolically the site represents a significant aspect of Irish identity, in that it informs our sense of what it means to be Irish, and that this same landscape is now in a worrying state of decay? The State should without further delay take ownership of the site on behalf of the people.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The Moore Street site is in private ownership. Dublin City Council and An Bord Pleanála approved an application for planning permission for the site. There is one section that my predecessor designated as a national monument, which is in private ownership. Any work to be carried out on that requires my permission. This area of Dublin, not only the site concerned, needs major upgrading, rejuvenation and revival. We all agree on that and it would help if we could do it in the context of the centenary of 1916.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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That is very important.