Labhrás Ó Murchú (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tá sé de phribhléid agamsa cuidiú leis an mBille sin agus cuirim fáilte Uí Cheallaigh freisin roimh an Aire Stáit anseo inniu. Mothaím dáiríre gur ócáid stairiúil atá anseo inniu. Tá seans againn ár meas agus ár mbród a léiriú do na laochra a chuaigh amach chun saoirse a bhaint amach dúinne i dtreo is go bhféadfaimis a bheith sa Teach seo inniu.

There is a sense of history here today, and one hopes it will be a proud and positive sense of history. I wonder what is going through the minds of the relatives of the 1916 leaders who are here today. Are they wondering why this debate is necessary? Are they wondering if we acknowledge, respect and appreciate the sacrifices made by the leaders and the men and women who participated in that struggle? I believe we do. In fact, everybody in this House and in the Oireachtas does, and the vast majority of the Irish people feel likewise.

We are on the eve of the centenary of the 1916 Rising, which gave us control of our destiny and the opportunity to develop our nation and State. It is worth recalling that the nation is not confined to the island of Ireland. The Irish nation is wherever Irish people gather, and there are 75 million people of Irish extraction spread throughout the world. There is no doubt that they will focus on next year with a degree of expectancy and hope. If we let the opportunity pass to do what is right regarding Moore Street, given its importance as a seminal aspect of our history, it will send reverberations throughout the Irish diaspora. It certainly will not go unnoticed. I salute the Government for whatever it intends doing to commemorate and celebrate the centenary of the Rising. I was present in Collins Barracks when the programme was unveiled and published. There is no doubt there are many good events in it but if we think back to some of the environmental and planning issues in Dublin, which tended to demolish or undermine specific buildings here, none of them comes anywhere near what Moore Street is to us. If it happens that Moore Street is not preserved, enhanced and developed, and there are opportunities for doing it, there is no doubt that as that message spreads, not just throughout Ireland but abroad, there will be many questions to be answered.

Anybody who has walked on the battlefield site could not but sense the emotion that is attached to that area. We must consider that that was the start of the War of Independence, and we realise the outcome of the War of Independence. We have held the Presidency of Europe on two occasions, which would have been unthought of in 1916 as we strived for independence, but the only reason we have the trappings of State and the honour to stand in the Oireachtas is precisely because of what happened in 1916.

The reason this Bill is important is that it is not a stand-alone document. Many months and years of preparation and work have gone into it but what was lacking heretofore was that the legislation template for going forward was not laid out in a focused and detailed manner. It is all in this Bill, and I salute those people who are responsible for it. I also salute the people who headed this campaign and kept it going. I asked one of those members today if they get weary of it all and his immediate reply was, "Certainly not" because they sensed the goodwill of the people. The people are behind what is intended here. It is the political leadership that must now reflect what the people want.

If we are building a highway, for instance, we often have to go through areas with existing houses or remove hills to do that. We often have compulsory acquisition of property. All of those were complex procedures. Moore Street is a much more simple proposition and any excuses which may have been put forward in the past to delay this process no longer stand up. It is clear that the city council is behind this project. It is clear that the Oireachtas has the powers to do what is right, and the Bill is the key to open the door on the way forward.

I will not even suggest that it is possible that the Bill will not succeed here today because all parties, as far as I am aware, would be behind the principle of what has been put forward. I have a document before me which was signed by Deputies Joan Burton and Ruairí Quinn in support of what is happening. Even back then the Labour Party was to the fore in this regard. I have not heard anybody from any party saying this is not the right thing to do. The only thing we might hear about are some of the difficulties or some minor legal threat. All of those can be overcome simply by legislation, and the detail of the Bill has foreseen all of those type of issue.

I would suggest, and Senator Darragh O'Brien put it exceptionally well, that no party wants to claim ownership of this project because if that happened we would diminish the importance of what we are trying to do. There are no political kudos to be won from this project but we can create a sense of unity during the centenary and send a message, loud and clear, that we did everything that was right, took every opportunity which came our way and responded to that.

If the Minister believes there are some elements of the Bill that need to be fine tuned, that can be done but it is the only thing on the table at the moment. What has been put forward piecemeal for Moore Street does not work and is not acceptable. Nobody seems to want it, therefore, we have to go back to the drawing board.

None of us expect that what is intended for the full development of that area will happen in time for the centenary but there are two things that can be done. We can ensure that the buildings are secured. We can ensure that they are properly maintained but it must also be put down on paper, with no deviation possible, that the full programme will be implemented even within a two year or a three year span. That is not an insurmountable problem for anybody who has the goodwill towards this project.

Anybody who wants to have a proper celebration of the centenary of 1916 does not want to buy into a revisionist policy and sees us as a distinctive nation in our own right, which produced men and women who put their own lives, and the lives of their families, at stake, not for any mercenary gain or spotlight but because they knew it was right and they did it for all the people. It would be unimaginable if in any way we did not realise the opportunity being presented to us as legislators to do what is right, in a generous way, and in a manner that will not be ridiculed by our own people at home and worldwide.