Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State on his new role. It is an important role, as we have seen, for communities across the country. It is also important the Minister of State is successful in it. I wish him the best of luck.

The Iveagh Gardens is a green lung for this city. They are more than just a park; they are a piece of our living history. They are one of the few surviving examples of gardens of this type. I suppose every tree tells a story, and to destroy these trees is to destroy the memory of the city.

The Iveagh Gardens are also an ecological haven in the heart of the city. I do not know if the Minister of State has visited the Iveagh Gardens. He could take a walk at lunchtime and he will see it is absolutely beautiful. At a time when climate change and urban sprawl are serious concerns, green spaces such as the Iveagh Gardens are more important than ever. Sacrificing the trees and green spaces in parks of this nature in order to build structures of concrete and glass would be a big mistake.

Many forget that the inner city is not only for shopping and dining. There are thousands of families living in the city. These families deserve better. We must protect the Iveagh Gardens for families who live in this city.

Twenty-one years ago, a charity called the Irish Children's Museum Limited, ICML, somehow got the OPW to sign a contract for it to build a science museum on the site of the National Concert Hall. The ICML is unaccountable. There is no transparency around it or around the public land given to it as a private entity. By any stretch of the imagination, this is extraordinary. An unaccountable and well-connected private entity, this charity, has been given public land. The ICML must come before the relevant Oireachtas committees, when they are set up, and answer some very important and serious questions.

When this project was originally set up, the estimated cost involved was €15 million. God knows what the cost would be now. The Iveagh Gardens should not pay a price just because some well-connected charity wants a vanity project, and that is what this is. I would be interested to know how and why a private charity can be accommodated within the building that houses the National Concert Hall. It has serviced offices there, with phones and heating provided. I would be interested in knowing who pays for all of that. Maybe the Minister of State will be able to get to the bottom of what is a fairly extraordinary situation.

There is already a children's science museum in Sandyford, which is approximately 10 km from here. The previous Minister launched it. The ICML wants to put another science museum in the city centre and destroy the Iveagh Gardens in the process. The plans relating to the National Concert Hall site will damage the Iveagh Gardens and cause the destruction of mature trees and boundary walls.

Almost 48,000 people have signed a petition relating to this matter. We need to save the Iveagh Gardens, which are a priceless asset for Dublin and for the communities and families of the inner city. They are ecologically, historically and culturally important for the communities in question. They belong to all of us and it is our duty to protect them for future generations.