Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Independent Members, in particular Senator Norris, for bringing forward this Bill, which is comprehensive, wide-ranging and contains stick measures in it as well for failure to protect the built heritage. I am very pleased the Bill is before the House and we are strongly supportive of it, as well as of a review and consolidation of wider planning legislation that the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage has been examining.

The Bill tackles a number of different issues, many of which have needed to be addressed for a long time. We have all seen the impact of failing to properly protect our built heritage in the situations that have emerged. I refer in my area in particular to the wanton destruction of the Iveagh Markets and the Iveagh building, which have been in the possession of a developer for the past 20 years. It is falling apart. We are still in negotiations on what will happen to the building, but it will never be the same again. It will require tens of millions of euro to bring it up to the standard at which it was handed over when it was operational as the dry market in the city at the end of the 1990s.

Another building I wish to highlight is the Player Wills factory, which I fought very hard for many years to get added to the Record of Protected Structures, RPS. The initial planning applications that came in from the developer, Hines, involved essentially just keeping the facade of the building. It is a very good example of not just Georgian and Victorian architecture, which many people value, but also 20th century modern architecture and industrial heritage that we must value as an important part of our built heritage. It does not get the same fame or attention, but it is important to the city.

Failing to adequately protect our built heritage has impacts that go far beyond dilapidation and planning compliance and goes to the very core of our architectural and social history. I am pleased that the Bill provides for the introduction of architectural conservation officers, together with restrictions on situations in which a building can be removed from the RPS. That is often done to suit new planning applications as they come in. As it stands, it is far too easy for planning authorities and developers to simply gloss over or ignore the fact that a building is a protected structure. The RPS has no teeth at the moment, and it is time to ensure that it does what it is intended to do, that is, to protect our built heritage and not simply for buildings to be recorded on a page while they fall into dilapidation.

I know from personal experience how long the process can take to get a building entered on the RPS, but I also know that the power is with the local authority managers in terms of protection and putting something on the RPS. I ask that we look in more detail at it becoming a reserved function of councillors on local authorities, as long as it is backed up by valid architectural reasons a building should be on the register. In the past two years, the reports of this happening have been relentless.

The former Player Wills factory on South Circular Road is of great historical significance, particularly in the industrial heritage of Dublin city. It is important that such buildings are protected for future generations and for the character of the city and country. It is possible to build and develop areas significantly while keeping the historical integrity and architectural history of areas intact.

The treatment, or rather lack of it, of the Iveagh buildings in the Liberties encapsulates how badly we have failed to protect our built heritage. A historic building, which should be the jewel of the south-west inner city has been left vacant and in ruinous condition for far too long. It was built in 1902, is situated on Francis Street in Dublin 8 and it has fallen into severe dereliction. An Taisce has it on a list of the top ten endangered buildings. The building is overgrown, there is extensive water damage, and it is essentially being used as a car park for vans owned by a pub in Temple Bar. It has so much potential and yet here we are in this situation. It should never have been allowed get to the situation where the building has been allowed to be hoarded and to fall into such disrepair and dilapidation that it requires tens of millions of euro worth of work. In that regard, I am very pleased section 43 will require a court to have regard to the extent of loss of the original built fabric of a building and the wilful nature of such damage when assessing the appropriate penalty to be imposed on conviction.

There is a list of protected buildings in the city and country, yet people are deliberately allowing them to fall into dereliction and are being facilitated to do so to put in more extensive planning applications. The Bill is very strong, and it will go some way towards tackling these problems. We are very supportive of the Bill. I know the Minister of State, who has been working hard on these issues and has a particular grá and feeling for it, will incorporate these elements of this Bill into the overall consolidation of planning legislation.