Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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79. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his Department will carry out a feasibility study to assess whether the remains of the Invincibles (details supplied) can be reinterred in Glasnevin Cemetery from their unmarked graves in Kilmainham Gaol, where they were interred in 1883; if his office will engage with family members of the Invincibles on this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35800/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The question of whether any persons might be reburied in Glasnevin Cemetery is not one on which I can comment on as Glasnevin Cemetery is the responsibility of the Dublin Cemeteries Trust.

My responsibilities and indeed those of the Office of Public Works, in relation to Kilmainham Gaol, arise under the National Monuments Act 1930 as a national monument of which I am owner. These responsibilities relate to the maintenance and presentation of Kilmainham Gaol to the public and the consideration of any requests to me to grant consent under the Act of 1930 for works (including ground disturbance) to it.

Accordingly, it is not within my remit as Minister to carry out any feasibility study as referred to in the question. If any persons wish to carry out such a study and seek, for those purposes, access to Kilmainham Gaol, then I will of course consider such a request on its merits, having regard to my statutory responsibilities regarding the protection of this important national monument.