My party did not object to the Order of Business today but it is extremely disappointing that such a limited amount of time is being allocated for the discussion of the reports from the Constitutional Convention. We have waited and waited and now, at the 11th hour, we have what is a minimalist debate. We did not object or look for a vote on the Order of Business simply because at least now there is some form of debate on reports that have been long outstanding.

The second issue I raise is the issue of Moore Street. A number of Deputies have submitted Topical Issues. I understand that my party's Topical Issue has been accepted.

Were they read out earlier?

No.

I will get the list.

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle might check that for me. In any event, we need a deeper discussion on this issue than a Topical Issue affords us. The Tánaiste will be aware that there has been a campaign for the best part of two decades to force the State and whatever Government to treat Moore Street, the entire terrace and the vicinity around the GPO up as far as Parnell Square, in a fitting and appropriate manner. People would be rightly horrified at the idea if anybody suggested today that one might bulldoze Kilmainham Gaol and put up a shopping mall but I remind the Tánaiste that Kilmainham Gaol is only now what it is because of the activism and insistence of people on the ground. The State let that place too go to rack and ruin with absolutely no regard for its historical import.

We are at a crossroads and we need a full debate here in the Oireachtas. The stall needs to be set out. I plead with Deputy Burton, as the outgoing Tánaiste and as a person in leadership in government in the centenary year, to do right in respect of Moore Street.

The State's response has been minimalist, almost to the point of being insulting to the memory of the men and women who, 100 years ago, struck a blow for the Republic. There is major economic potential for the inner city of Dublin and beyond in creating what would be a tourist mecca and a massive economic hub in the north inner city.

For those reasons, I appeal to the Tánaiste to make time for us to debate these issues. I hope every Member of the Oireachtas, irrespective of political stripe, finds it within himself or herself to support what is blindingly obvious, namely, the necessity for the full preservation and appropriate development of the Moore Street terrace in its entirety and the entire revolutionary quarter.

There will be a Topical Issue debate, raised by six Deputies, including Deputy McDonald, on the restoration works on the national monument, Nos. 14 to 17 Moore Street.

I have had a very long-standing interest in Moore Street and have had the privilege of being in Nos. 14, 15, 16 and 17 Moore Street. I have also had the opportunity to look very closely at the plans proposed by the various historical experts and public bodies which will undertake the work. While not everybody agrees with this, the proposals rank alongside what I have seen done in similar situations. It is a very high-quality proposal which fits in with maintaining the fabric of a street on which I partly grew up. I know every corner of the street. I shopped on the street with my mother from when I was a very small child. I know all the lanes and I know where everybody came out, where nurse Elizabeth O'Farrell came and where The O'Rahilly was shot. It is part of all our history. What has been proposed deserves very careful consideration by everybody.

There have been a number of throwaway comments about shops being in the vicinity. The Deputy represents the north inner city now. The essence of the north inner city is that it is a very large retail shopping area. The whole of the wider O'Connell Street area almost as far as the canal is part of the 1916 Rising battlefield. It is similar on the south side. The question must be faced by all big cities that have a vast amount of fascinating history which, as the Deputy rightly said, is a very big draw for citizens of the Irish Republic which was created 100 years ago. We are the proud inheritors of it.

We must face the question of how we have the city function as a city centre. Other countries have done this very well. If the Deputy examines many of the books and photographs of the time, she will see that the proposal is very true to what the street looked like at the time. I have a particular interest in this and have examined them over many years. I hope the people from Éirígí who went into Nos. 14 to 17 recently did not do any damage to what are extraordinarily fragile buildings. I ask the Deputy to use her good offices as a political leader to ensure no further damage is done to the fabric. What is proposed is a modern conservation in which a limited number of people-----

It is a shopping mall.

There will be a Topical Issue debate on it.

There is nothing wrong with people in the north side of Dublin wanting to shop in the vicinity of the GPO. I have done it all my life, and it is one of the great pleasures of being around the GPO and being in Henry Street and the surrounding area.

In a shopping mall.

This is the Order of Business.

We will not have a debate on it now.

This is a lecture.

We need a plan which will reinstate the fabric, give the experience to people who visit and make us all proud. It means the strictest planning guidelines must be adopted on the whole area, which includes much of the city centre between the canals. Dublin City Council has an extraordinarily serious responsibility in this. I hope all the bodies can agree, and we should not take cheap shots at shopping malls. It ill becomes the Deputy.

Can we have the debate?

I ask Deputies to be brief in their questions.

Everybody has shopped there for decades and generations.

The Tánaiste is missing the point.

Will the Leas-Cheann Comhairle ask the Tánaiste to be brief?