Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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In the greater scheme of things and in the middle of the Covid crisis, I am not sure that the issue I am raising is the most important one we could discuss. However, it struck me when I saw the story in question that it fitted well with the old adage that one should never waste a good crisis. Had we not been in the middle of a Covid lockdown and restrictions, the ESB might not have moved as quickly to do what it is doing.

The Georgian House Museum at No. 29 Fitzwilliam Street opened in 1991 to celebrate Dublin's status as European Capital of Culture. It was operated as a museum by the ESB and the National Museum of Ireland, offering an exhibition of Dublin Georgian home life from 1790 to 1820. The building was restored by the ESB as part of a deal with what was then Dublin Corporation. That deal was agreed more than a decade earlier to allow the company to exceed standard plot ratios in the expansion of its 1960s office complex. Some people will remember the destruction of Georgian Dublin in the 1960s, when eminent figures like the late Marian Finucane and the former President, Mary Robinson, fought hard, as students, to prevent it. When I was a young student, I had the privilege of being part of the campaign to stop the destruction of Wood Quay. That campaign was tragically lost to the vandalism of Dublin Corporation when it built its awful office buildings on top of what was the largest Viking site in Europe.

The part of Georgian Dublin in which the Georgian House Museum is located is the longest stretch of Georgian architecture anywhere in the world. The museum was offered as a sop to the people of Dublin by the ESB. It was to be allowed to carry out the development of its offices and, in return, it would provide the museum as some small form of compensation. Now the ESB is saying it does not want to reopen the museum after the building is refurbished. Given that it is the only publicly accessible Georgian period home in the city of Dublin and that we advertise Dublin as an architectural Georgian city for tourism purposes, this act of vandalism which is intended by the ESB should be reversed. I ask the Minister to lobby the ESB to stop it happening. I am not sure whether the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, who is still in the Chamber, is the responsible Minister. It might be the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin. The redevelopment has already raised €180 million for the ESB through its selling off of half the site. In the middle of a pandemic, it is a deeply cynical move. Moreover, it would be highly ironic for a development of luxury apartments to replace a museum in this city at a time when we are facing a housing crisis and seeing various land deals happening.

I want to see Georgian Dublin preserved but I do not want to see the levels of inequality and poverty that defined Georgian Dublin preserved. It would be wrong for the museum to be converted into luxury apartments rather than being kept as a museum for the people. Many schoolchildren benefit from visiting it because it has an educational aspect. It also helps us to promote our city as somewhere interesting to visit. Enough vandalism has been done to Dublin. Its character has, in many ways, been destroyed by development over the years. Perhaps the ESB would use some of its newly found wealth to ensure the museum is preserved. There is a campaign by the Irish Georgian Society to save it. I hope the Minister will back us up in our call to put pressure on the ESB to keep the museum open, in conjunction with the National Museum of Ireland. It is an important educational and heritage facility. We must prevent further vandalism of this nature in our city.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy. The ESB began work on Project Fitzwilliam, the redevelopment of the Fitzwilliam Street site, in June 2017. The project involves the construction of two separate grade A office blocks, an underground car park and the redevelopment of the ESB-owned Georgian buildings on Mount Street. The redevelopment will deliver one of the most efficient and sustainable office developments in Dublin city, with a near-zero energy rating, while sensitively respecting and enhancing the Georgian streetscape. The project involves the demolition of some existing buildings, the retention and refurbishment of a number of protected Georgian structures and the construction of a new seven-storey office block. It includes the complete renovation of 11 Georgian houses. The ESB will continue to occupy three of them, with eight houses returning to residential use, comprising 17 residential units. The house at No. 29 Fitzwilliam Street is one of those eight.

The ESB proposal comprises converting the museum building back to three residential units for individual and family ownership. The ESB has stated its belief that returning the eight houses to residential use is the most sustainable means of safeguarding the streetscape, which is the most critical heritage aspects of these buildings. The cluster of eight houses has the potential to become an exemplar scheme for Dublin to demonstrate successful city living. It is also delivering a residential scheme that showcases the standards and designs set out in the South Georgian Dublin Townhouse Re-Use guidance document published in March 2019 by Dublin City Council. A cohesive development of this type and scale offers a unique opportunity within the Georgian core. It addresses neighbour anxiety, modern hygiene and convenience standards, as well as building legacy issues, which were identified as key impediments to attracting owner-occupiers to Georgian houses for the Living City initiative.

The ESB Georgian House Museum at No. 29 Fitzwilliam Street opened to the public in 1991, as the Deputy said, to support Dublin's status as European Capital of Culture in that year. It was never envisaged that the exhibition would run forever. Since 1991, there is a changed landscape in terms of historical and heritage offerings, with many museums and heritage alternatives now available.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Minister's answer seems to have come from the textbook of the ESB. I have a statement in front of me from the company which says:

Since 1991, there is a changed landscape in terms of historical and heritage offerings, with many museums and heritage alternatives now available. Our commitment to heritage activities is now more closely linked to our corporate responsibilities.

The ESB is spelling it out in that statement that its interests are in corporate responsibilities, not in its commitment to the city. When we talk about successful city living, are we actually talking about luxury, high-end apartments? Are we saying that one can only live successfully in this city if one is extremely well off and that it is shut down to ordinary people?

Had the ESB kept to its commitment, which was made as part of a deal with Dublin Corporation at the time the company was given permission to flatten the street, the fully furnished and fully refurbished Georgian home, as it stood in the late 1700s and early 1800s, would still be available for all of us to enjoy as visitors. If the ESB takes it away, there is not a single other property in which we can enjoy that historical setting. The company referred in one of its statements to the tenement museum on Henrietta Street. I know that museum very well but comparing it with the Georgian House Museum is not comparing like with like. The tenement museum preserves the inequality of that period of our history. The museum in Fitzwilliam Street preserves the high end of that history and it is worthwhile to be able to contrast the two.

The closure of the museum on Fitzwilliam Street is an act of vandalism and an abandonment of the city. Given the privileges the ESB enjoyed to develop the street over the years and the money it has made from selling off chunks of the site, that it would be allowed to walk away from reopening the museum is not acceptable. I call again on the Minister to put pressure on the ESB, a semi-State company, to hold on to the museum and keep it open for the enjoyment and benefit of the people of this country and all who visit it. I ask that it not be allowed to destroy one of the remaining open public spaces that is part of the Georgian architecture of this city.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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This is a critical feature of our heritage and the character of our city. It is an issue that has been deeply controversial going back to the development of the ESB offices some 50 years ago.

There was rightful controversy. Deputy Smith is right to say that the people protesting at the time were absolutely correct about protecting our Georgian heritage.

My sense from passing the site every day is that the architects have done a good job with the new development. It is remarkable but it seems to me it fits in within the site. We cannot see it fully yet, but it looks like it will be a real enhancement to the city.

I believe having people living in Georgian buildings will achieve something. I absolutely agree with Deputy Smith and I commit 100% that we have to work to ensure that our city does not become someplace where a person can only be wealthy if he or she lives within it. I believe in the objective of getting people, especially families, to live within our Georgian quarter. I believe the nature of offices, what is happening with Covid-19, the need for office space reducing and the building of significant other office space give us the potential to open up or bring back in families and people to live in our Georgian quarter.

In making this call, the ESB has said that these eight units will create more space by dividing them up. If the ESB does succeed in showing an example of how we can get people living back within the Georgian quarter, then I believe it would be a real benefit to our city.

This does not take from the argument made by Deputy Smith, which is absolutely correct, about the need to have a mix of different tenancies and to have housing models so that all people of every income and circumstances can live in the city. Anyway, that should not stop us opening up our Georgian houses and using them to get people living in them again. That would be an important and useful legacy and I support the ESB in its approach to try to make that happen.