Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 September 2020
51. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps he will take to intervene and protect the national monument at 40 Herbert Park by preservation order as a monument, the preservation of which is a matter of national importance now threatened with demolition. [24225/20]
Amharc ar fhreagra54. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider classifying 40 Herbert Park, the home of 1916 veteran Michael Joseph O'Rahilly known as The O'Rahilly, as a national monument. [24275/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 51 and 54 together.
Part IV of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, gives primary responsibility to local authorities to identify and protect the architectural heritage by including particular structures on the Record of Protected Structures (RPS). Inclusion on the RPS places a duty of care on the owners and occupiers of protected structures and also gives planning authorities powers to deal with any development proposals affecting them. I understand that the building in question is not included on the Dublin City Council’s current RPS.
As Minister, I may also make recommendations to local authorities for buildings and structures to be included on the RPS. These recommendations arise from the surveys of my Department's National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH). However, the area in which the building is question is located has not yet been surveyed by the NIAH.
There is no mechanism per se under the National Monuments Acts for classifying a structure as a national monument. The Minister may place a Preservation Order on a building or structure in certain circumstances where, in the opinion of the Minister, it is a national monument ‘by reason of the historical, architectural, traditional, artistic or archaeological interest attaching thereto.’ In this case, the building itself forms part of a site in respect of which a Strategic Housing Development application was submitted to An Bord Pleanála for approval earlier this year and in respect of which my Department provided its observations as a statutory consultee under the Planning and Development Acts. I understand that the Bord has now made a determination on that application.
