Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 November 2018
8. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to outline the status of the programme of restoration works for 14-17 Moore Street; and the timeline for the national monument to be restored. [47405/18]
View answerMy question relates to the status of the programme of restoration works for 14-17 Moore Street and the timeline for the restoration of the national monument there.
As the Deputy is aware, the project to conserve the national monument buildings and to open them to the public to honour the leaders of the 1916 Rising was suspended in early 2016 on foot of proceedings in the High Court.
The aim of the works was to restore the buildings in a way that would have ensured that they reflected as closely as possible what they would have been like when they were occupied by the insurgents in 1916. Each of the buildings has extensive original features. The intention was, and remains, to retain all of this original material. With the agreement of the High Court a programme of works was subsequently completed to stabilise and weatherproof the buildings. This agreed programme was completed last year and the monument buildings are now in the care of the Office of Public Works.
Working with The Moore Street Report — Securing History as its guide, the Moore Street advisory group, of which the Deputy is a member and whose support for the process I greatly appreciate, is currently engaged in discussions with the new owners of the Dublin Central site about the implementation of these recommendations and the future of the site surrounding the national monument. I was pleased to hear from the chair of the advisory group that the discussions are progressing positively.
I understand that the advisory group has been briefed in some detail by the architects for the new owners on how the previous plans for the wider site are being significantly modified in a way that is seen to be more sympathetic to the traditions and history of the area and that also brings the commemoration of the events of Easter 1916 much more to the fore.
The design changes that will follow in relation to aspects such as architectural heritage, urban regeneration, community benefit and social amenity will determine how the wider regeneration work interacts with the national monument buildings themselves and how both elements are appropriately and sensitively integrated. Until that discussion, in which I see the Moore Street advisory group having a significant role, is complete and an overall solution to the regeneration of the surrounding site is in place, it would not be possible to put a precise timeframe on the resumption of work on the national monument project.
As the Minister states, I am a member of that consultative group and I was party to the report produced, called "Securing History". In that report, there were a number of realisable recommendations. One of those recommendations was that at an appropriate time, a cross-departmental group chaired by the lead Minister, Deputy Madigan, with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the OPW, Dublin City Council, DCC, and the line Departments would pull together the State interests and oversee how the agencies can all deliver on their respective responsibilities. When will that happen?
We know what to do but when are we going to do it? I do not accept the Minister's point that we must wait on discussions with the developer for the rest of the terrace because I do not understand why the restoration work on Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street, which the State owns, cannot commence immediately. The stabilising works have been done. They have cost a great deal. Why are we not in working on the restoration?
As the Deputy will be aware, the advisory group's most recent meeting was on Tuesday last, 13 November. It is now engaging on a regular basis with Hammerson to provide stakeholder input to the plans for the wider Dublin Central site.
Hammerson has presented an outline of its new plans to the group of which the Deputy is a member and I believe these have generally been well received by the members. These plans are acknowledged to be a big step forward from the previous proposals, in terms of being more representative and reflective of the history and culture of the area and of the events that took place during the 1916 Rising.
I met Dr. Tom Collins earlier this year when he provided an update on the positive progress and significant engagement that is taking place with Hammerson. In the meantime, Hammerson has presented its revised proposals to the group of which the Deputy is a member and is looking forward to continuing discussions and to getting the Deputy's group's view on the much revised development approach which is now being pursued.
The sub-group of which the Deputy is also a member has been formed only in the past fortnight and is chaired by Deputy Ó Cuív, who was here earlier. It is tasked with coming up with a vision for the national monuments at Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street and I would not like to pre-empt that work.
The Minister correctly states that there is a more constructive engagement with the new developer, Hammerson, but with all that is happening in the retail sector, there is no guarantee that it will be there ad infinitum. I acknowledge that Hammerson has a much better appreciation of the historical and cultural atmosphere, ethos and history of the area but it does not own Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street - the State does. Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street are very old. Despite the stabilising works, there is still a great deal of work that we could be doing on restoring it instead of putting money into stabilising.
I also will refer to the traders. In our report, we made a number of recommendations to regenerate the market area there. There were suggestions around the by-laws and services and those are at a stalemate. What I get from the Minister is that our consultative group has the power to move all of these issues along but Deputy Madigan is the line Minister with the responsibility and power to do what she seems to be suggesting that we can do.
The Taoiseach has a strong interest in what is happening in Moore Street. As the line Minister, I agreed that he should visit the area soon. As part of that visit, I expect that he will meet Hammerson's architect to review the research that Hammerson has done on the area and how the plans have been changed to reflect better the culture and history of the area and its links to the 1916 Rising. The Taoiseach will also visit the national monument buildings at Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street and the rest of the Dublin Central site, which extends from Moore Street to the former Carlton Cinema on O'Connell Street and takes in much of the ground in between.
Deputy Jan O'Sullivan also mentioned the traders there. I believe the advisory group met Dublin City Council previously and discussed a range of issues. A submission was made by the group on behalf of the traders to the review currently taking place with regard to the casual trading by-laws. I believe Dublin City Council is currently examining all these submissions. It is important to say that we want to get it done as expeditiously as possible but properly.
