FIANNA FÁIL WILL tonight table a bill that would see the O’Connell Street area and other areas of Dublin designated the “1916 Quarter”.

Eamon Ó Cuív will table the motion during Private Members’ Business tonight from 8.30pm.

He says it is a step beyond current legislation to protect the Moore Street site.

Fianna Fáil wants to create a 1916 historical quarter in Dublin city, which would encompass not only the GPO and Moore Street, but also other key locations which were linked to the 1916 Easter Rising such as Bolands Mills, South Dublin Union (St James Hospital), the Old Jacobs Factory and the Royal College of Surgeons to name but a few.

The proposed bill defines the 1916 Quarter Area as being:

That part of Dublin 1 including the building known as the General Post Office, O’Connell Street, Dublin 1 and its auxiliary lanes adjacent to that building; the street known as Moore Street and auxiliary lanes adjacent to Moore Street; other buildings and locations and their auxiliary roads and lanes in the city of Dublin which were occupied by the Irish Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army during Easter week, 1916 as prescribed by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht through statutory instrument.

Ó Cuív’s bill would mean the establishment of a company to oversee the area, with the power to compulsorily purchase properties with the approval of the Heritage Minister.

Ó Cuív says that while the party supports the government’s 1916 programme, his bill would help revitalise the northside of the capital.

“We want to create a city that respects and preserves its history, while at the same time rejuvenating those areas.

“While we support the Government’s programme of events to mark the Rising, there needs to be a lasting investment made in our history and heritage so that future generations of Irish people recognise the sacrifices made in 1916.”

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