Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, who, unfortunately, cannot be here. He has asked me to send his apologies. I will convey to him the Senator's comments. I am aware that the Senator has raised this issue consistently, has a great interest in it and has been very committed to it. She raised it most recently in July of this year.

The future of the historic buildings at 14–17 Moore Street has been at the centre of a vigorous debate for several years, and a considerable amount of effort has been expended both inside and outside government to reach a consensus on how to proceed. Following the publication of the Moore Street Advisory Group's third and final Securing History report in May 2021, the path ahead was made much clearer. Following extensive consultation, the Government earlier this year adopted a key decision to instruct the OPW to proceed with a project to conserve the houses and create a 1916 commemorative centre, allowing people to visit the site and participate in this important part of our country's history.

As the Minister indicated previously in this Chamber, while the OPW has been curating the site since 2019, its focus up to this point has been on keeping the monument safe and secure until a decision could be made on its future. Following the Government decision earlier this year, the OPW has moved forward substantively on implementing its mandate and has been working on developing a project to meet the vision outlined in the advisory group's report.

As the Minister of State informed the Seanad in July, the OPW has been focused first and foremost on resourcing the project properly, with a professional design team, led by an in-house expert technical team from the OPW, supplemented through the appointment of additional external technical services teams, including project managers, architects, engineers and cost specialists, who will help manage the works on the ground and fully deliver the project. When the Minister of State addressed the matter here in July, it was hoped the OPW would be in a position to conclude the relevant formalities with these professionals within a relatively short space of time, enabling them to begin substantively on the key design preparation work that needs to be done before contractors can be engaged and work started on site. While progress has been made, this schedule has, unfortunately, proven too optimistic, and most of the formal appointments have not yet been concluded.

The delay in formal appointments for the technical team has occurred due to the complexity of ensuring the various parties to the multiple individual contracts concerned - between the OPW on one side and seven separate companies on the other - will be completely clear as to their roles and responsibilities in the process. As a result, this process has taken longer to conclude than anticipated.

I can inform the Senator that progress has been made regarding the design team. The individual technical team members have been identified, a scope-of-service arrangement has been agreed, and terms of service, including the commercial aspects, have been set out.

Looking forward, the OPW considers these matters to be very significantly advanced and will appoint the individual team members as soon as possible. However, the OPW is not in a position at this stage to commit to a specific date, but the matter is being treated as a priority.

I wish to take this opportunity to address another matter that I trust will be of interest to the Senator. It relates to the appointment of a professional design consultant for the interpretation and exhibition element of the project. This is a significant element of the project and will represent a critical part of the design team. This commitment is being tendered publicly, allowing creative teams and companies that specialise in this kind of work to submit proposals for consideration by a joint assessment panel comprising key members of the project steering group. A tender specification for this work has been created and it will be a short-term priority for the OPW - in parallel with appointing the other members of the technical team - to advertise for this speciality service and make an appointment as soon as is feasible.

The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donovan, has informed me of his intention to visit the Moore Street national monument and will ensure every effort will be made to advance works.