Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

As one of the co-sponsors of this Bill, I thank Senator Norris for his initiative in bringing this legislation before the House. I also thank those who inspired him to do so, in particular the Mountjoy residents' association and other conservationists in Dublin.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. A few points have occurred to me regarding the conservation of our heritage. One relates to something Senator Fitzpatrick mentioned, namely, Mountjoy Square, which is an area I have a connection with, in that my father was born in one of the houses on the square at the time it was beginning its nosedive into neglect. He was born in 1912. By the 1960s or 1970s, one side of the square was in a state of ruin and had collapsed completely. Happily, at that time, it was considered perfectly right to reinstate the facades so that at least the integrity of the square was recreated. There was not any pointy-nosed blather about pastiche architecture or whatever else; it was just done. I agree with Senator Fitzpatrick that the result is extremely pleasant now that the square itself has been revitalised.I am talking about the open ground in the middle of the square. It is now a place which is up and coming and its future is now guaranteed. However, I remember when I was a student, looking around it and thinking it was a disaster. It looked more like a part of east Berlin, rather than anywhere else.

While we are on that subject, the ESB buildings on Fitzwilliam Street are an improvement on what was there before. However, it is a pity that Deputy Jim O'Callaghan's proposal that the facades be reinstated was not implemented. Although Grafton Architects have done a very good job at recreating some echoes of the street's Georgian past by using brickwork and the like, the modern bits of the buildings, which are internalised courtyards, are the most disappointing. It would have been better to learn from the Mountjoy Square experience. The ESB could have built a very impressive headquarters facing on to James Street East and undone the damage its predecessors did at an earlier stage.

Today is Bloomsday. I think Usher's Island is in Senator Moynihan's constituency. It is interesting that the house where The Dead is located is sitting there and was in danger of being redeveloped in the most inappropriate way, with structures out the back of it, to be a student hostel. We could do James Joyce some greater honour than to ruin that building. Curiously, there was a twin house right beside it. All that is left of it is the ground floor. I know an enlightened Dublin City Council would think of a scheme to acquire both of those properties, bring them back to a decent state of repair and do honour to James Joyce in that way.

Conservation architecture is important. I knew of one individual, a near neighbour of mine in Ranelagh, who had a preserved structure. When he went to do a major job to bring it back into very good repair, the conservation architects from Dublin City Council told him that a major joist, which ran from the front to the back of the structure, could not be removed and replaced by a new wooden or steel joist enclosed likewise in the floor. It had to be kept in place, although it was rotten, with plating on all sides. The point I am making is that this joist is hidden in the floor. Nobody can see it. That is the kind of excessive zeal which means that people will run away from conservation structures when they are told they cannot do what is sensible to keep a building functional, in proper condition and usable.

When I say that I support this Bill in its spirit completely, I will make one point clear. One can have overzealous conservation approaches. I notice there was a programme on RTÉ about houses. The owner of a house near the Royal Canal bank was told that she had to keep a window frame which was set the wrong way round, as an economy measure, in the 1950s. She had to keep the sash window on its side because the conservation architect thought that was a condition to allowing her refurbish the house which was falling down in its entirety.

Having said that, I am very much a fan of conservation of buildings and planning authorities taking their job seriously and remedies being there. I take all of the points that have been made in this debate thus far, but I do not want to bring into being a regime in which the rules are so stacked against people that they run away from conservation and find better things to do with the rest of their lives.