Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 February 2024
127. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide an update on the proposed national centre for research and remembrance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9191/24]
View answerIn March 2022 Government approved high level proposals for the National Centre for Research and Remembrance to be located on the site of the former Magdalen Laundry in Sean McDermott Street, Dublin 1 to comprise:
• a museum and exhibition space, the development of which will be led by the National Museum of Ireland
• a research centre and repository of records related to institutional trauma in the 20th century, which will form part of the National Archives
• a place for reflection and remembrance
• social housing
• educational and community facilities
A Steering Group, chaired by Mr Martin Fraser, former Secretary General to the Government and Ambassador to Great Britain, was established in April 2022 and is driving the overall coordinated development of the National Centre.
In July 2022, Dublin City Council voted to transfer the site of the former Magdalen Laundry at Sean McDermott Street to the OPW, to be developed as the National Centre. The OPW is continuing essential maintenance works on the site to facilitate safe and full access and necessary building surveys.
In July 2023 Government approved the masterplan for the National Centre campus as well as the preliminary business case for the main National Centre building structures - the museum, research centre and repository. Government also approved, in principle, proposals for the wider National Centre campus as follows:
• social housing, configured to universal design standards and appropriate to the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities within the North East Inner City;
• the development of a lifelong learning hub for the provision of further and higher education and;
• facilities for the provision of community-based family and parenting supports.
The masterplan for the site can be viewed on the National Centre website: www.gov.ie/nationalcentre.
An initial public consultation on certain elements of the National Centre which ran from July to September 2023, received almost 220 responses, and these are in the final stages of analysis. A report on the responses will be published shortly, and will inform the ongoing work on the National Centre. Further consultations and engagement, particularly with survivors and former residents, will take place as the project progresses with updates posted on the National Centre website.
