Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

If the Government is of a mind to make a contribution, it would be appropriate to make some contribution of money to the restoration fund and it should be done in that spirit. Buildings are buildings and it was not the equivalent of the 9/11 tragedy. There is no need for cross-European mourning. The editorial today in The Irish Timesmakes a very good point. There is a need for us all to check our buildings of similar antiquity, even those which have been heavily restored, like the two Church of Ireland cathedrals in Dublin.We must make sure that our fire precautions for major buildings of this kind are up to the approved modern standards. I ask that the Minister of State with responsibility for the Office of Public Works should come to this House, tell us the lessons he intends to learn from the fire in Paris and give us an assurance that lessons are going to be learned from it and we are not going to have equivalent destruction of our architectural heritage and iconic monuments due to a lack of taking reasonable steps to prevent fires from destroying them in the manner that happened in Notre Dame.