Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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84. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide the schedule of work and detail on the plans under way by the State in relation to Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street; and to clarify if these plans could involve a chance of causing damage to the neighbouring buildings of Nos. 13 or 18, which also date from before the 1916 Easter Rising. [23716/23]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the OPW is substantively addressing the project at the 14 – 17 Moore St. National Monument in order to create a 1916 Commemorative Centre. This is being done on foot of a Government Decision which is, in turn, informed by Securing History, the third report of the Moore St. Advisory Group, (of which, of course, the Deputy was a member) and the complementary work done by the Irish Heritage Trust to inform the conservation and presentation of the site.

To date, a Design Team has been appointed and they have begun work on the key Phase 1 project which is the work to conserve the original range of houses and the creation of a historic visitor experience within them.In the short term, this will involve carrying out a review of the design previously created and assessing if any changes need to be made to bring it up to date with current Building Regulations. In tandem, a number of surveys are also being arranged to assess the state of the buildings currently and to provide a baseline for the subsequent design activity.

When this has been completed, the Design Team will move forward to the detailed planning phase, drawing up plans and specifications in a sufficient level of detail to enable tenders to be sought from suitably experienced Contractors.

At this stage in the process, it is difficult to estimate with complete precision how long this project will take to complete; however, at this stage, the OPW estimate that the Phase 1 work will be onsite in mid 2024, with completion expected in late 2026.

As I have said, the work being done currently is on assessing the earlier plan and assessing whether it needs any amendment to bring it up to date.This means that the entire and sole focus is on the 14 – 17 National Monument and the structures which are in the ownership of the State.There are no plans to do any work outside of that and the OPW are not anticipating that there will be any impact from their works on the adjoining structures of no 13 and no 18.