asked the Minister for Finance if he will state for what purpose the excavations are being made on the north side of St. Stephen's Green; and whether he is satisfied that the amenities of the park will not be permanently injured by the work which is proceeding or the results thereof.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Excavations in St. Stephen's Green.
The excavations to which the Deputy refers are being made by the E.S.B. for the construction of a transformer sub-station. The board has represented to the Commissioners of Public Works that the increasing load in the Stephen's Green area had made the erection of a sub-station adjacent to the top of Grafton Street essential for the maintenance of electricity supply in the area. The board had failed to obtain an alternative site; and the commissioners agreed to make an alternative site available in the shrubbery on the north side of the Green between Dawson Street and Grafton Street subject to the conditions, inter alia, that the sub-station would be underground and, on completion, that the ground would be restored and any damage made good. I am satisfied that the amenities of the park will not be permanently injured by the work.
Am I correct in inferring from what the Parliamentary Secretary says (1) that there will be no superstructure visible and (2) that there will be no continual ingress and egress from this sub-station?
Yes. Number (2) of the conditions states that the sub-station is to be underground and in accordance with plans approved by the commissioners. There will be a special gate, locked, of which the E.S.B. and they alone will hold the key.
Do I understand that a large lump of Stephen's Green is being appropriated to the E.S.B.? This is the whole evil of which I am apprehensive. Do I understand from the Parliamentary Secretary now that we are to have a large square of Stephen's Green railed off with a lock and key, ingress to which is prohibited to the public and reserved for the E.S.B.? If it is, it is a scandal.
I have not given the Deputy to understand any such thing. This is an underground station and I have been assured by the commissioners that the condition of the ground as it now is will be restored.
Agreed.
And that ingress and egress to and from this place will have to be provided specially for the use of the E.S.B. and that is being done by means of a special gate. I do not think the Deputy is entitled to conclude that a large area will be railed off for the exclusive use, on the surface, of the board.
What is the meaning of the gate and the key and the lock.
It may be underground.
I put down this question in order to reassure the public, believing I would get from the Parliamentary Secretary the kind of answer that I hoped to get, that this would not prevent anybody having access to the Green as they now have. Now I am told by the Parliamentary Secretary that there is to be a gate and a lock. I want to know what is the gate on and against whom is the lock devised? If the Parliamentary Secretary says to me that when this job is finished nobody will see any difference in the Green, I am quite content, but if he says that the creation of this subterranean station requires the erection of some kind of paling with a gate and lock in it, then I think it is a blooming scandal.
That is not a question.
I am anxious to reassure the public and I put down this question to help the Parliamentary Secretary. Do not be wagging your head. That is the fact. The trouble is that I have got information that I did not expect to get.
The Deputy is making a speech.
What is the difference between a scandal and a blooming scandal?
Go back to your job in the United States. You were well paid for it.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary giving a guarantee that the aesthetics and amenities of the Stephen's Green Club will not be interfered with?
I think I can give that guarantee also on the strength of the information with which the commissioners have supplied me. May I ask Deputy Dillon a question? If there is not a gate, when this sub-station has been completed, how does he propose that the officials of the board will get into it or get out of it?
I never knew that it was meant to harbour officials at all. I thought there was to be some automatic junction or something underground. That is what I was told. Now I am told, apparently, that we are to have a kind of residence for E.S.B. officials into which members of the E.S.B. can trot at will but the ordinary perambulator pusher of this city will not be allowed to enter.
I have told the Deputy that this structure will be underground but it will be inside the railings. If there is no entrance through the railings how is the E.S.B. to get to it?
A Deputy
Put it on O'Connell Bridge.