Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáít chuig an Teach agus cuirim fáilte roimh chuile dhuine atá ag breathnú agus ag éisteacht linn chomh maith. I welcome all our distinguished guests in the Gallery. I welcome the opportunity to further discuss the development of the Moore Street area. I am aware that several people have been collecting signatures.Up to 10,000 signatures have been collected to support a sustainable development that would retain the entire 1916 Moore Street terrace. There is also support for the regeneration of the area, particularly to keep the integrity of the street market and small food shops and to bring them to life. The save Moore Street from demolition campaign will host an "arms around Moore Street event" on Sunday, 28 June. The organisers want to encircle the Moore Street terrace and fill the Moore Street area with people who care. I am aware of what is happening in this extraordinary and historic area. Thousands of people lived and worked in the area, which can been seen in the 1911 census. Its terrible to think that over 300 men were crammed into the small terrace which only consisted of 15 redbrick houses and two dozen people died on the street in 1916.

I welcome the fact that Senator Darragh O'Brien and his Fianna Fáil party raised this debate. I was moved by his vision and response to why he wanted to move Second Stage of the Bill. My worry, and it is no reflection on him, is that Fianna Fáil has a penchant for going it alone in terms of development areas of which Temple Bar and Dublin docklands are examples. Senator O'Brien eloquently outlined his vision but I do not see it in this document, which has left me feeling nervous.

I was the director of the Projects Arts Centre in Temple Bar in the 1990s and, thankfully, my predecessors bought the centre so it was retained. At the time I saw a lot of cultural organisations being railroaded and shifted out of the area. I saw local artists and co-operatives being driven out of the area for commercial gain that operated under the guise of a national government agency of which the sole shareholder was the Minister for the Environment. I am curious to know why the Bill has been presented as belonging to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when it should be the responsibility of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.

I witnessed at first hand a government desecrate Temple Bar and stripping it of essential communities, particularly artists and local communities who worked in the area. I do not think the then Government intended to do so. I firmly believe that the original intention of Temple Bar Properties was to develop the area as a cultural quarter. Unfortunately, it chose the commercial route of developing huge bars and retail areas that have now dwarfed the original gentle, creative and imaginative area of Temple Bar which was there before it became a national development area. That is what worries me about this Bill.

I have seen no statement of vision or imagination in the Bill. I would support the Bill if it contained what Senator Darragh O'Brien just spoke about. There is no guarantee that his view will come to pass. I have seen what happened to Temple Bar, which is now managed by Dublin City Council. Significant cultural organisations in the area are under threat because it has been proposed that they should manage the maintenance of the buildings. Suddenly, the very foundation of the funding and sustainable future of some of these cultural organisations is in trouble.

The Minister of State mentioned other adjoining areas. Let us look at what has happened with the so-called cultural quarter of Parnell Square, plus Moore Street. The Carlton site has lain dormant for many years. There is the Abbey Theatre and Dance Ireland DanceHouse on Foley Street. There is also The Lab gallery on Foley Street which is run by Dublin City Council. There is an emerging cultural quarter and energy appearing in the area yet this Bill has not made an emotional or cultural connection to any of it. The legislation does not even mention anything-----