Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----and Clerys, of course. The first time someone decided to do something about the streetscape of O'Connell Street was the Wide Streets Commission, which went back several hundred years. It did a wonderful job at the time, but it has not been followed through since. Certainly since self-government, we seem to have neglected Dublin. Not only that, we have destroyed it in many places. While I can understand to a degree in the immediate post-colonial period where people were venting their revenge on 800 years of British domination, the strange thing is that seems to have been unique to a post-revolution Ireland. It did not happen in France. After the revolution, the French did not destroy the buildings of the aristocracy. Versailles was a particular example. However, many of our country houses were burnt out.

As a child I remember all the argument about the ESB and the monstrosity it built in Dublin that still stands as a legacy and not one of which one should be proud. I remember some very concerned people at the time who tried to stop that. I understand the ESB has plans to restore it but not quite restore the Georgian streetscape to the same extent as it was before. I am not sure if Senator Norris referred to it in his contribution, most of which I heard. I hope that whatever the ESB proposes, it will do its very best to restore that wonderful Georgian streetscape.

Anybody living and working around this area, as we all are, will notice tourists who stand at the corner of Merrion Square and look up and look down. I am not surprised because it is a tourist attraction in its own right and is unique to this city. In a way it encapsulates the attitude of official Ireland for too long that these things did not matter. I believe that contributed to a mindset that developed over the years about O'Connell Street. It became tacky with its fast food joints. Senator O'Donnell and many others referred to this.

Following the initiative started by Senators Norris and Barrett and ably supported by Senator Quinn, I sincerely hope that what has been said here today will be taken into account.I appreciate much of what was said and about the fact things are happening.

There is still a need for some sort of radicalism in terms of what we do to preserve the iconic O'Connell Street. Irrespective of whether people come from small-town Ireland, such as Drumshambo, or medium-sized Ireland, such as Kilkenny city, we empathise with O'Connell Street. We might not necessarily always empathise with Dublin, the Dubs and whatever, in particular the county's dominance of football. At the same time, we empathise with O'Connell Street and people are proud of O'Connell Street. Traditionally, it was a place where country people tended to go, but maybe less so to Henry Street. It was O'Connell Street that people went to and talked about. It was on O'Connell Street and just off it that one shopped for clothes in places such as Guineys, Clerys and Best. Therefore, O'Connell Street looms large in the Irish psyche and for that reason no one would object to a Government, aided by the city council, taking initiatives to restore O'Connell Street to its former glory.