Narrow Water bridge project
Gerry Adams asks the Taoiseach to press Northern Ministers to complete the Narrow Water bridge procurement process before EU funding expires. The Taoiseach says funding is available and discussions are progressing toward a successful conclusion.
Regarding the Narrow Water bridge project, I have been in touch with the Ministers, Sammy Wilson and Danny Kennedy in the North. While the necessary work has been done by the Minister here, there is a real concern that the time allocated to procure funds from the EU for the bridge project may pass. Is it appropriate for the Taoiseach to ask the Tánaiste to make representations to the two Ministers to whom I referred?
I refer to the preservation order on the national monument on Moore Street. The programme for Government contains, for what it is worth, a commitment to develop a cultural plan for future commemorative events such as the centenary of the Easter Rising. We were all at an event this morning at Arbour Hill to remember the men and women who proclaimed a republic in 1916. However, the last headquarters of that republic - the national monument in Moore Street - stands in a state of decay. Under a preservation order, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is obliged to intervene when a national monument is in danger of falling into decay through neglect. I ask the Taoiseach to have the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, intervene to remove the national monument from the ownership of Chartered Land and to act to preserve the Moore Street battlefield site in its entirety.
While I acknowledge that the Taoiseach has a packed schedule, he promised to meet the families of the 1916 leaders.
Comment on this
Can the Taoiseach get someone to get in touch with those families to organise the meeting?
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I met a cross-Border delegation regarding Narrow Water when I was in Dundalk recently. Clearly, the EU moneys are in place as is the finance being contributed by Louth County Council and the Government. The process of evaluation by the Executive and the Minister, Sammy Wilson's office in Stormont is proceeding. I hope the matter can be brought to a speedy and successful conclusion. The project is an important cross-Border link and the first visible physical connection at Narrow Water. It is clearly an important link from a commercial, social and tourism perspective. The Minister, Sammy Wilson is dealing with the evaluation process, which I hope can be concluded successfully.
Moore Street is a monument of which one is not proud. I visited it and it is not the kind of site to which one would like to refer people as the last headquarters of those who left the GPO by the side door in 1916. It is a complex matter involving developers, Dublin City Council, the Minister and NAMA etc. I have asked the Minister to prepare a memo for Government because we must make a decision. The Minister can intervene in law, but any intervention should take into account what we want for the general area by the time we get to 2016. As I said to other Deputies, I would like to think we could do something about the military archives, the courthouse in Kilmainham, the GPO itself and the national monument in Moore Street. The Minister will bring his memo to Government shortly. It is a matter which can be discussed in the House. The Minister has a particular interest in the matter as chair of the centenary commemoration events. It is a case of ensuring any intervention is the right one in the context of what the nation wants for the national monument at Moore Street.