Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 November 2013
4. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the role of the Office of Public Works in national commemorations between 2013 and 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49665/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI want the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, who has responsibility for the OPW to outline briefly the role of his office in terms of the various commemorations from 2013 to 2016 in view of the fact that many of the buildings involved are public buildings and national monuments which means that the OPW will have a central role.
The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has been charged with co-ordinating the Government's approach to commemorating the many notable historic events within the decade of centenaries from 2012 to 2022. The general Government approach is one that seeks to promote tolerance, respect and inclusiveness and that recognises the all-island and east-west shared past nature of the decade.
The role of the Office of Public Works, OPW, is to support the various Government initiatives and events being held on State property managed by the OPW to commemorate particular historic occasions such as at the Garden of Remembrance, for example. That is similar to the role it has performed most successfully recently for the visits of Queen Elizabeth II and President Obama and Ireland's hosting of the EU Presidency. The OPW provides logistical, organisational and managerial input, as required and requested by various Departments involved in the national commemorations.
The OPW is also involved in the management of specific projects relating to and linked with the commemoration of 1916. Two notable examples are the redevelopment of Kilmainham Gaol through the acquisition of the adjacent former Kilmainham courthouse which will facilitate the anticipated increased volume of visitors to the gaol as the events surrounding the Rising of 1916 are commemorated and the major refurbishment of the National Gallery of Ireland. Both projects are scheduled for completion by the end of 2015, in time for the centenary commemoration of the Rising in 2016.
I welcome the role of the OPW. I understand the initiative is being headed by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht but the OPW will have a key role. It had a key role in regard to the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, although the Minister of State's Department was not a direct line Department. I hope it will have at least as strong a role in these matters.
With regard to the previous question, we mentioned the medium-term expenditure plan for each Department. How much is allocated for the commemorations in the OPW medium-term expenditure plan on a year-by-year basis for the next three years? There must be a subheading. What is the outline?
The Minister of State mentioned the Garden of Remembrance. Are there plans to locate there a monument for children who were abused in institutions? Is everyone happy that it is the right location? I do not have a particular view on it and respect the people who are involved.
The OPW can play a key role. I am thinking of the declaration of the Moore Street area as a national monument and also of the GPO. Such locations should be central. We would not be here today without the people who were involved in the associated struggles.
On the first issue, the Deputy rightly pointed out the role of the OPW in the EU Presidency. The total amount spent by the State was one third less than was the case during the previous Presidency, some seven years ago. This is an example of the co-ordination and shared service role of the OPW.
The only subhead concerned capital projects. Six years ago, the total amount of money for OPW capital projects was €400 million. This year, it is €80 million. We are still doing all the tasks in question with capital expenditure of €80 million. The only subhead is for the Kilmainham Gaol project, which involves an investment of €10 million over a three-year period.
With regard to the Deputy's comments on the Garden of Remembrance, I fully agree with him. It is a project of the Department of Education and Skills, from which the funding comes. However, my Department, along with that of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, has been central regarding the competition for architectural support and the siting of the new memorial. It is important that we proceed with that.
We intend to publish next year a full list of the commemorative events in OPW-specific historic sites.
Essentially, the Minister of State's last sentence, on the fact that he will publish in 2014 a list of events connected directly with the OPW, is the one I was waiting to hear.
There are many relevant State properties. Even in Mountjoy, old records were found on people who had been interned there at various times over the years, or who had met the end of their days there, which are relevant to some of the commemorations. Could the Minister of State ensure, through the OPW, that any relevant information in State properties, be they owned by the Department of Justice and Equality, the National Library of Ireland or the National Archives - not necessarily the Department of Finance - can be utilised to enrich the celebrations and promote greater knowledge and awareness? It is a question of trying to get the information up on the website. I am impressed to see the Minister of State reading from his tablet this morning.
That is a very good suggestion. There needs to be a whole-of-government approach because there will be hundreds of events all over the country between now and 2016. Obviously, there will be a focus on sites such as Kilmainham Gaol because of the significance of the events that occurred there and the considerable number of visitors who will be going there. It is the third most visited tourist site in the city at the moment. The numbers will grow exponentially between now and 2016.
There are many events occurring around the country. I was recently at the Seán Mac Diarmada homestead in Leitrim, an OPW property on which we recently spent €30,000 re-thatching the roof. There are very interesting proposals coming from Galway on the Pearse cottage. The Pearse Museum is another OPW property. Large numbers visit it to see the work of Pádraig Pearse as an educationalist and as someone who was involved in the historic events in question. We need to bring the strands together and I very much accept the Deputy's point in that regard. The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, is co-ordinating the group, which operates rightly and properly on an all-party basis. We need to make sure people know what is happening, because there will be many events.
