Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to the House. It is great to have a Cabinet Minister in the House for Commencement matters and I thank him for being here.

Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire for being here. This is a very important matter, as are all of the matters being raised by the Senators in this House. We appreciate the Minister's time given all the pressures that are on it. We are seeking an update from the Minister and his Department on funding to provide an international centre of excellence for Na Píobairí Uilleann on Henrietta Street in Dublin 1. Na Píobairí Uilleann was founded in 1968 by a group of volunteers who were champions of the uilleann pipes. I can count among them an old neighbour of mine who is now sadly deceased, and also Seán Potts and others. From a voluntary perspective, they established Na Píobairí Uilleann with the simple but ambitious aim of promoting and preserving the uilleann pipes and their music. Since its founding, Na Píobairí Uilleann has grown into a thriving cross-Border, international arts organisation. It is dedicated to sharing, promoting and championing the sound of Ireland which is the uilleann pipes. The organisation offers a wide range of services to pipers but also to uilleann pipe enthusiasts. Its members have not only formal classes for the tuition of piping, but they also teach instrument maintenance, repair and construction. They have published books and released recordings on the uilleann pipes. In addition to its work with the pipers, Na Píobairí Uilleann also promotes the uilleann pipes and Irish music to a wider audience internationally through concerts, festivals and other events. It is an organisation of which we should all be very proud. Its members have played a really key role in the revival of an interest in traditional Irish music which has helped to ensure the continuation of the tradition of the uilleann pipes. Na Píobairí Uilleann now has over 1,500 members in more than 40 countries.It also teaches in Enniskillen and Derry, supports the tuition in Belfast and works with the Armagh Pipers Club. It is a fantastic organisation and has done a great job since 1968. When I was a city councillor myself, it brought forward a proposal with the city council to develop on its site in Henrietta Street - a most beautiful intact Georgian Street in the heart of our capital - an international centre of excellence. That proposal is one for which I want to thank the Minister. He has visited the existing property there on Henrietta Street. It has Part 8 planning permission and I was glad as a city councillor to be able to support Na Píobairí Uileann in securing that. It has heads of agreement with Dublin City Council to develop the site. There has been a cost-benefit analysis and a cost has already been identified for this project in the region of €8 million. It has the support and has engaged with all of the relevant stakeholders, not just with the pipers themselves but also Dublin City Council, the Arts Council, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, as well as with the local community.

This is a fabulous project. It has planning permission and has the support and endorsement of all of the relevant stakeholders. My appeal to the Minister today is to ask him and his Department if it can find the funds within, perhaps, the urban regeneration funding to allow this project to proceed. It is shovel-ready and will be an amazing addition not just, obviously, to my own constituency of Dublin Central but it would be a great addition to Henrietta Street, to the inner city and to our capital city in general. I am hoping that the Minister will be coming to the Chamber with good news and I look forward to his reply.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus go háirithe leis an Seanadóir Fitzpatrick as a ceist agus an tsuim atá aici in ionad na bPíobairí Uileann freisin. I thank the Cathaoirleach and the Senator for her question and for the interest she has shown in na Píobairí Uileann. As she has rightly said, I paid a visit there with her not so long ago, just a couple of months past, and I was very impressed with the work that is being undertaken. I do not believe it is an exaggeration to say that na Píobairí Uileann played a very crucial part in ensuring that the skill of making uileann pipes and the teaching of that beautiful instrument to many people not just in Ireland but across the world continues. This organisation was crucial to ensuring that this was not a skill we lost in this country.

As the Senator has correctly said, the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, was established to support more compact sustainable development through regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland’s five cities and other large towns in line with the national planning framework. This will facilitate a greater proportion of residential mixed-use development to be delivered within the existing built-up footprints of our cities and our larger towns to ensure that more parts of our urban areas can become attractive and vibrant places in which people can choose to live and work, as well as to invest, and importantly in this instance, to visit. Through the URDF, public bodies are receiving targeted support and, to date, there have been two calls, as the Senator will know, under the URDF in excess of €1.6 billion which has been allocated by this Government to 132 proposals, comprising almost 400 projects right across the country.

Specifically, in respect of Dublin City Council, I commend it on the work it has done with the URDF in some very significant plans it has not only in the Senator’s own constituency of Dublin Central, but right across Dublin city also. It has received approval for six projects encompassing a funding commitment of €18 million under call 1. Under call 2, which we announced last year, funding of €174 million has been provisionally allocated for Dublin City Council’s two successful proposals. One of these is a very important north inner city concept for area one, which amounts to €121 million, and then in the south inner city a further allocation of €53 million is being made. To date, therefore, Dublin City Council has received just short of €200 million under URDF, that is funding of €192 million to be exact.

As part of the third round of funding which I announced in January, local authorities were asked to review the projects they already had and to provide an update to me on the status of each project.Where a project may have been approved for funding support and it was no longer to proceed, I would ask local authorities, including Dublin City Council, to communicate that, to re-evaluate it and to see could we reallocate those moneys.

Dublin City Council responded to the third funding round and confirmed that a small number of its projects are not proceeding. They have, in consequence, put forward alternative projects for consideration for funding, one of which, I am glad to say, is the proposed international centre of excellence of uilleann piping on Henrietta Street - Na Píobairí Uilleann. I can confirm, therefore, that funding of the proposed uilleann piping centre under the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, is being considered and officials from the Department are engaging with Dublin City Council on the matter.

I can tell Senator Fitzpatrick, furthermore, I would like to see this project proceed. I am aware that the Senator has been incredibly supportive of it, as am I. I am waiting for a final submission from my Department officials, once the talks with Dublin City Council conclude. I am very positively disposed towards it.

Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. It is welcome news that the Department is engaging with the city council and is looking favourably on this proposal.

It is important that we preserve our unique heritage. It is called the sound of Ireland because of the unique sound that uilleann pipes create, the uniqueness of the instrument, the complexity of it and the richness of that sound.

I appreciate that the Minister and his Department have many demands on the State's resources but a project such as this is one will serve not only this generation, but generations to come. In so doing, it will also honour the generations that went before us. I thank the Minister for his time today. I thank him for the positive response. I really hope we will be able to invite the Minister back to the Seanad to advise on an actual approval of funding in the near future.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas arís leis an Seanadóir. Táim dóchasach go mbeidh mé ábalta freagra dearfach a thabhairt dóibh go luath. Tá súil agam go mbeidh mé ábalta é sin a dhéanamh i mí an Mheithimh nó i mí na Bealtaine. I am hopeful we will be able to give some good news soon. Henrietta Street is magnificent. This will be a further addition to the north inner city area and will mean that the craft of making uilleann pipes will be able to be done on-site with training, apprenticeships and all that goes with it. The plans that they have, which I looked at in advance of coming in, following the meeting with them, will provide a superb exhibition space for recitals etc. as well.

As I said, tá mé dóchasach faoi. Beidh mé lánsásta teacht ar ais go dtí an Seanad go luath faoi sin.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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Could I just say, before the Minister leaves, that it is refreshing and positive to see a full Cabinet Minister taking a Commencement matter in the Seanad. The Minister might communicate to his Cabinet colleagues that it would be welcome and a wonderful sight to see Cabinet Ministers taking Commencement matters. I thank the Minister for being here this afternoon for that.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I had the pleasure of serving in the Seanad for five years. I fully respect the Seanad and the work that Senators do. Any time that I can come in here, I will. I will happily relay your feedback to my Cabinet colleagues.

Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)
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I have written to all Cabinet Ministers on foot of comments from Members of the House complaining at the lack of Cabinet Ministers, as well as Ministers of State complaining on the floor of the Seanad about they having to take two, three or four Commencement matters. It is genuinely very positive to see a Cabinet Minister here. Go raibh míle maith agat.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Tá fáilte romhat.