Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Deputies Maureen O'Sullivan, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Joe Costello, Seán Crow, Mary Lou McDonald and Sandra McLellan are sharing time. They have 12 minutes in total which I presume will be allocated on the basis of two minutes to each Deputy.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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It is very timely that this has been chosen because of what has happened in the past week. When one walked the route taken by the 300 men and women of the Volunteers and the Citizen Army along Moore Street that Thursday in 1916 and when one walks that route today, it is clear that so much happened at different places along the lanes and in the houses. This is a battlefield site of historical significance and it is not just Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street that should be a national monument. What happened on the battlefield site did not just involve the leaders, it also involved men and women from the Volunteers and the Citizen Army, and the ordinary citizens of Dublin. Why is the area, including the laneways, not a designated national monument? Was NAMA ever asked to gift the battlefield site to the Government and to the nation because it is of such huge historical importance? Why, when paying the €4 million, did the Government not consider that this sum should have included the entire battlefield site, because it is recognised as a battlefield site, both by our National Museum and by the British Imperial War Museum?

As it stands, Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street will be preserved and the rest of the street will be a shopping centre, which is totally inappropriate in an area of great historical significance, not to mention that Dublin does not need another shopping centre. There is a need for a different vision of a historic cultural quarter that will link up with the plans for Parnell Square, which will maintain the fabric of how the street looked in 1916 and which will be much better for the street traders.

We know the work began last Monday week when the builder moved in. Who is monitoring and overseeing that work? Who is on-site to ensure those builders know exactly what they are doing? Where is the conservation architect who will oversee that and ensure that no more is lost in the area?

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I congratulate the relatives, who succeeded in getting an injunction to prevent any further damage to the national monument and to the site as a whole. It is a debacle that we are here, 15 years after this issue was first highlighted, and there is a threat to a national monument. By national monument I mean not only the small portion of what should be a national monument that has been designated as such so far. For any proper understanding of what happened in Moore Street in the future, we need to understand the context. Deputy O'Sullivan just outlined the Government's intention, namely, to secure a number of buildings in the middle of a street and surrounded by a shopping mall. This would mean the historical context of the buildings is gone, along with the understanding that is gained from it. Anybody who understands history understands that the historical context is nearly as important as the building itself. Unless children, visitors and anybody else coming to Dublin in the future have a full streetscape, including the lanes of history around it they will not fully understand what happened in Moore Street. People can be imaginative and use the whole street as a living museum, if they so wish. That is what I suggest the Government look at and it should designate the whole street and the laneways as a national monument. Even at this late stage, I believe the Minister has that power.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on the restoration of the national monument on Moore Street. It is nearly 20 years since I first put forward a motion to Dublin City Council proposing that No. 16 Moore Street, where the last council of war was held, with James Connolly, Pádraig Pearse and other signatories to the Proclamation, be made a protected structure and a 1916 commemorative centre. I put forward the original motion when the National Graves Association brought to my attention the unauthorised removal of the 1916 commemorative plaque, which had been erected in 1966, 50 years after the Rising. Together with the National Graves Association, I established the Save 16 Moore Street campaign. This led to the eventual recognition of Nos. 14 to 17 together with the GPO in 2007. The Moore Street national monument was at that time in private ownership and I opposed a number of large-scale planning applications for the site and its environs as recently as 2010. I also gave evidence at oral hearings, most recently in 2010, opposing the manner in which the planning application for that development was put forward.

James Connolly Heron and other relatives of the signatories became deeply involved in the campaign in the last number of years and thankfully in 2015 the national monument passed into the ownership of the State. It is right and proper that a national monument of such significance be held in the possession of the State and that the State take full responsibility for its restoration. We must remember that under the legislation, the restoration of the national monument has to be carried out under the auspices of the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, in consultation with the director of the National Museum, so there is already a monitoring process in place. It is now essential that the restoration work on the national monument goes ahead without delay, so that Moore Street national monument can play its rightful role in the centenary commemorations. This national monument should be developed together with the neighbouring national monument, the GPO, which was the headquarters of the Easter Rising, in a manner befitting their iconic importance in the history of our Republic.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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I am proud of those who took part in the revolution of Easter Week 1916: the youth of Fianna na hÉireann, of which my grandfather was a member; the women in Cumann na mBan; the Volunteers; and the men and women of the Citizen Army. As one of those lucky people who knows a bit of the history of this country and this city, I am appalled by what is happening to the national monument and to the terrace in Moore Street. I am not ashamed of that freedom struggle. That is the difficulty and that is what we are dealing with in respect of this monument. I commend not only the relatives of 1916 and their actions through the courts but also those who recently occupied the buildings in Moore Street to prevent their demolition. We have not got leadership from politicians on this issue and hopefully the courts will now give that leadership.

I remember attending the 1966 commemoration as a young child and the pride people had at that time. I also remember this State banning the Easter commemoration in 1976 and Nora Connolly O'Brien being brought through the courts and fined for taking part in that. We have come a long way since then, but unfortunately we now have a similar Government, a Labour Party-Fine Gael coalition, to that in power in 1976, and it seems determined to demolish these buildings. I am standing here this evening in this Chamber and I am saying to the Minister that the people of this city and of this country will not allow her to do that.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is hard to credit that the Minister and her Government are standing over what is planned for Moore Street.

It is hard to grasp fully how utterly crass and ignorant is the approach. It is hard to credit that anybody with even a passing interest in or faint respect for the events of Easter week 100 years ago, for the women and men of that time but, perhaps more importantly, for the country and the citizens in the here and now, could promote a commemorative shopping mall on Moore Street because, when one strips it all away, that is what it boils down to. By the way, I have nothing against shopping malls. I probably need to put that on the record because the Tánaiste earlier today intimated that I might hurt the feelings of shopping malls by speaking in this way.

It is self-evident and blindingly obvious that what is happening here in this year with the Government's intention to vandalise our national heritage is a direct re-run of what was envisaged for Kilmainham Gaol. One should bear in mind that fine edifice and recognition of the history of our struggle for freedom would not be in its current state had it been down to the State or any Government in particular. No doubt at that time some might have thought it a bright idea to bulldoze that and erect a shopping mall. Fortunately, the National Graves Association did not let that happen. We see a direct re-run now.

It is astonishing in the commemorative year that the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and her crass and ignorant colleagues in government would insist on proceeding with this approach. She should do the right thing, at a very late hour but nonetheless. I believe the Minister would enjoy full support, not only of the Oireachtas but of the people, if she does the right thing.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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On 10 November 2015, I announced that I had approved a comprehensive scheme of restoration works to Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street. The announcement of the commencement of works featured in national media coverage at the time and was widely welcomed. Having secured ownership of the buildings at Nos. 14 to 17, following agreement from the Government to purchase the site, work got under way by Lissadell Construction, who are recognised conservation and heritage experts. Projects that they have completed, to name but a few, are the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, the Gate Theatre, and Rathfarnham Castle. Over the past week, we have had a situation where a group of individuals, led by Éirigí, occupied the national monument, delaying and jeopardising the entire restoration project. I note Deputy Crowe's comment commending them. The works that are now resuming will stabilise, underpin and conserve these buildings for future generations to enjoy and visit. They will provide for the creation of a 1916 commemorative centre, which will be a fitting tribute to the leaders of 1916.

The archaeological and conservation work undertaken to date has revealed the tunnels where the rebels broke through from one house to the other, and these will be kept and preserved. The painstaking manual work has also revealed period details from 1916 and before. It will allow the public to see first-hand what the rebels encountered and where they made their final decisions to end the uprising to avoid further loss of life. The work under way will return the houses to their 1916 state for which there is ample witness, anecdotal, physical and documentary evidence.

On the issue of the buildings on either side of the national monument which have been the subject of some commentary, Nos. 18 and 19 were in ruins at the time of the Rising. No. 13 is a modern build, internally and externally. Nos. 18 and 19 have been rebuilt and remodelled in the meantime too. None of these houses has any evidence whatsoever of the presence of the rebels. They are modern inside and out and lack any fixtures, fittings, finishes, partitions, stairs or other original elements. This is backed up by documentary evidence, including valuation records from 1911 to 1915 and from 1915 to 1925, Thom's Directory 1915 and the Dublin electoral lists from 1908 to 1915. The removal of these fundamentally new buildings will allow the national monument to be comprehensively underpinned and stabilised and the gables to be given permanent finishes, protecting them into the future on a permanent basis.

Discussions on Moore Street have dragged on for decades. Moore Street is now being dealt with and our approach is neither crass nor ignorant. It was 2007 when Nos. 14 to 17 were declared a national monument and we are only now at the point of restoration. As everyone in this House will be aware, the development of the wider Moore Street area is a matter for the local authority, Dublin City Council. It does not fall under my remit. However, a report was prepared for my Department by Shaffrey Associates architects and Frank Myles archaeologists in February 2012, and they are experts in this area. Their report included an inspection, assessment and fabric investigations of an area incorporating the block formed by Moore Street, O'Rahilly Parade, Moore Lane, Henry Place and some of the areas south of Henry Place extending back towards Henry Street. The methodology used was approved by my Department and the director of the National Museum.

The report reinforced the status of Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street. The main conclusions of the report were that there is little surviving of the historical landscape of the republican occupation of the Moore Street area on the final night of the Rising. The buildings along Moore Street do not demonstrate any exterior evidence of the conflict and what does survive is the street plan itself which retains something of its legibility as the route of the evacuation, or indeed as the advance on the British position, is followed.

Under the planning permission given by An Bord Pleanála in 2010, Moore Street itself will continue as an open street. As part of the wider development plans for the area, Henry Place, Moore Lane and O'Rahilly Parade are also to be retained. Before any further development takes place, a detailed project proposal must be submitted to Dublin City Council in which the historical significance of the critical locations along the evacuation route from the GPO are featured and interpreted.

The fabric of the national monument is extremely delicate and I do not want to see it deteriorate any further. We are at a stage now where people need to decide whether they want to save the national monument. I hope good sense will prevail.

Maureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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The answer ignores all the other events that occurred on these streets, coming from the GPO around to Moore Street and down to the place of the final surrender. The Minister is not taking into account all these other events which involved the members of the Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, Cumann na mBan and ordinary citizens.

Some very significant events happened on that street scape. We are talking about the fabric and the sense of what Moore Street was like at the time of the Easter Rising. The Minister was at Google recently launching a virtual reality tour of 1916. On Moore Street we have a real reality of what it was like. We know the value of folk parks and we know that, with a different vision, Moore Street could be that historical area. At the moment, a shopping centre is planned.

There has been a litany of mistakes, in which Dublin City was also involved. Where was the engagement between the Government and Dublin City Council on it? A week ago, I watched the "Scannal" programme about Wood Quay. We could remove the words "Wood Quay" and substitute "Moore Street", given that exactly the same thing is happening. There is a need for a different vision and time is running out. Who is monitoring what is happening? The builders are going in. They have no historic or conservation experience and more could be destroyed.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister tried to use a logic that much of what is on the street did not exist in 1916 or has been built since then. By this logic, if An Post said it wanted to demolish the GPO, the Minister would agree, given that the GPO did not exist after 1916: it took eight years to rebuild it to its current glory. It was faithfully rebuilt, and this is what we are calling on the Minister to do.

We ask her to have some understanding of the context of these buildings. They are not three buildings alone. If they were, we could move them to the Phoenix Park and people could visit them there. The important thing is the context of Moore Street and the lanes off it. The cobble stones that the men and women, and even the British soldiers who were shooting them, went on still exist. It is a battlefield site. It is not three buildings in isolation. I urge the Minister to step in and ensure Moore Street is a full national monument.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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People are coming very late to Moore Street and what it stands for. The late Tony Gregory and I were two of the people who went to prison to protect Moore Street traders and their conditions.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I was battered off the street for it.

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy without interruption.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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He should not be lecturing people.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Moore Street has been derelict for 100 years, and nobody considered preserving it at the time. Now, there is tremendous interest, which is right and proper.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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It was because the State controlled it for the past number of years.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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Much could have been done in the past, for example, people could have objected to the shopping mall. It was not for the Minister to object to a planning application by Dublin City Council.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Government controls it through NAMA.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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The planning applications were made before NAMA owned it.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I am talking about the recent years when the Deputy was a Government Minister.

Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Please, the Deputy without interruption.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Deputy is encouraging me.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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It is no use giving out about a shopping centre in the area when nobody here objected to the planning application. I objected to it and gave oral evidence against it.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Fair dues to the Deputy. He said nobody objected.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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However, it went ahead. It would have been wonderful if all the people who are so concerned about it now and are raising it so loudly had been there when it mattered. Now, it is very important that we get the restoration of the national monument. When the national monument came up first, the aim was to protect No. 16 Moore Street. It was extended to Nos. 14 to 17. We need it restored for the 1916 commemoration. It has been left derelict for far too long. The director of the National Museum of Ireland is the person who must liaise with the Minister about the development. Has this liaison taken place and what is the role of the director?

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Moore Street has a special place in the hearts of Irish people and it is vital that it be redeveloped in a manner worthy of its importance. The delays and negligence of successive Governments cannot be allowed to continue to damage and destroy the Moore Street terrace. The Minister's plan is minimalist and lacking in vision. It is an embarrassingly cobbled together bunch of ideas that fails to protect or enhance the 1916 monument and the greater battlefield site.

We are talking about a shopping centre. This is the Minister's vision of the 1916 leaders and the revolution, but it certainly is not shared by me or the majority of people in this city and country. The Minister must wake up to what is happening to the monument. If any damage is being done, it is by the wreckers and developers on site, not those who were occupying it and protecting the area before the courts could move. While the Minister and her Department sat on their hands and did nothing, people went in and protected the site, and they should be commended.

The Minister said different groups were involved in the occupation. Individuals were involved. Members of my party were involved. Friends of mine were involved. I was outside, and I will support them. The end result will be a shopping mall, which is the Minister's vision of the men and women of 1916.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The State, the Government and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht have operated in cahoots with developers. Joe O'Reilly made his planning application for a shopping mall, a controversy ensued and his loans were taken over by NAMA. NAMA acquired the entire portfolio, which it flogged off last November under the very appropriate title "Project Jewel". Deputy Ó Snodaigh argued that the Government should have intervened then, as it had full authority to do under the NAMA Acts. It was the window of opportunity. The Minister's colleague told Deputy Ó Snodaigh that it was his view and the view of the Government that it would be inappropriate. Dear divine God. There were ample opportunities time and again to intervene, yet the Government failed to do so.

It is a view widely held that the very idea of a shopping mall in the middle of Moore Street with a cultural and historical museum latched onto it is utterly crass to the point of being vandalism of our heritage.

Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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The Deputy should have objected to it.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is tasteless and is the action of absolute ignoramuses, or ignorami, in the Government. The Minister needs to fix it. That is why she is elected to public office; not to sit and take the part of developers.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Costello is correct when he says that planning permission regarding Moore Street was given by An Bord Pleanála in 2010. The Deputies opposite should have objected at that stage. The shopping mall is a matter for Dublin City Council. I am responsible for the national monument at Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street. Anything outside the national monument is a matter for Dublin City Council.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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We know that. Never mind that.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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To clarify, Lissadell Construction, which is carrying out the work on the national monument, has significant experience of restoration and conservation work.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The expert advice I have received is very clear. As I have outlined, Nos. 18 and 19 Moore Street were in ruins. None of the original fabric of the building at No. 13 is still present, as it was rebuilt in the 1940s. It has been clearly demonstrated that Nos. 14 to 17 are of historic importance.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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All of it is of historic importance.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I have been inside those buildings.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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So have I.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I have seen at first hand the fabric of the buildings that date back to 1916. I refer to what is there at Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street. If one goes into Nos. 18 and 19, one will see that the inside of those buildings has been completely changed.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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What about No. 10?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I have been there, yes.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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What about Nos. 11 and 12?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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This is the first Government to do something about Moore Street. We purchased the national monument. We have made money available to carry out restoration work.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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We are developing a legacy that will be a tribute to the leaders of 1916.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Is the Minister referring to the shopping mall?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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It will be a step back in time to see-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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To see the shopping mall.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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-----what life was like for them in 1916.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Give over.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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It has taken us eight years to get to this point. One hundred years after the Rising, we are conserving and protecting the final headquarters of the leaders.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Time is of the essence. It has been my intention to allow limited access to the site at the national monument during the centenary commemorations. If further delays are caused, that quite simply will not be possible.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister is looking for a ribbon to cut.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I appeal to everyone in the House to help to bring to an end to the efforts to frustrate the safeguarding and preservation of the national monument.