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SEANAD EIREANN.AN DARA TUARASGABHÁIL Ó’N gCÓ-CHOISTE AR ÁRUS SEALADACH DON OIREACHTAS.SECOND REPORT OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE TEMPORARY ACCOMMODATION OF THE OIREACHTAS.1. The following Resolution was passed by the Seanad, on 1st May, 1924:— “That the Seanad is of opinion that no useful purpose would be served in referring back the Report of the Joint Committee on Temporary Accommodation for the Oireachtas for reconsideration of section 3 of paragraph 4, but hereby resolves that the Report be referred back for reconsideration generally. They further wish to impress upon the Government the urgent necessity for the provision of suitable accommodation for the Seanad and its officials”; and The following Resolution was passed by the Dáil on 8th May, 1924:— “That the Report be referred back to the Joint Committee for reconsideration generally.” In compliance with these Resolutions the Joint Committee has fully reconsidered the matter upon which it was asked to report. 2. Since the presentation of its former Report it has received no further suggestion of any practical kind save that put forward by Deputy Thrift, which would involve the complete evacuation of Leinster House and the erection of temporary buildings on Leinster Lawn, or as an alternative, on the grounds of Merrion Square or some other available site. The Joint Committee had already considered and rejected this proposal in so far as it was confined to Leinster Lawn, but, in deference to the views of the Deputy, it has again considered the proposal as outlined by him with the assistance of plans which he furnished to the Joint Committee and courteously explained to it in person. These plans appeared to the Joint Committee to be skilfully drawn, and it was satisfied that they would, as designed, provide suitable and adequate accommodation of a temporary character for the housing of the Oireachtas and their staff as well as for Ministers and their officials. No actual estimate of the cost had been prepared but the Joint Committee accepted Mr. Thrift’s calculation that the structures could be completed within a year, and that their inclusive cost should not exceed £70,000 and might possibly approximate to £50,000. The Joint Committee however has been unable to recommend the adoption of any such scheme. Apart from the delay and expense which it would necessarily entail, structures of the character designed by the plans should endure for a period of at least ten years, but the question of the permanent housing of the Oireachtas should be definitely settled at a much earlier date, and, when settled, would involve the scrapping of such temporary structures and the consequent sacrifice of the cost of erection, a sum which could be more appropriately used in compensating the Royal Dublin Society for any pecuniary loss it may sustain. 3. The Joint Committee notices that in discussing its First Report in the Dáil the President of the Executive Council suggested that the Report had not gone into the details of the objections to the use of the Royal Hospital at Kilmainham, but the Joint Committee felt and still feels that in summarising them by reference to the expense, delay and inconvenience involved, it had supplied all the essential materials for the proper consideration and discussion of its Report as to this particular site. 4. Upon a careful review of the whole situation it has found no reason for departing from its previous recommendation. namely, that the entire premises comprised in Leinster House should be taken over for the temporary accommodation of the Oireachtas, subject to the Government providing, or paying for. suitable premises in which the amendities of the Royal Dublin Society could be reasonably preserved in the interval, and upon the distinct understanding that Leinster House would be vacated at the earliest possible date consistent with the acquisition of a permanent home for the Oireachtas. 5. In the event of this recommendation being rejected, Dublin Castle is the only location that the Joint Committee can suggest as a suitable alternative. It has, in its favour, convenience of situation and access, ample buildings in excellent repair and capacity for extension. Recent alterations have made it practically available for early occupation so that the expense and delay involved in any further adaptation would be small in comparison with that resulting from the selection of any of the competing proposals which in the opinion of the Committee were worthy of consideration. It refrains from recommending it so long as the question of alternative accommodation for the Courts remains unsettled, but the Committee, while fully alive to the inconvenience that would necessarily result from the transference of the Courts to some other temporary habitation, is of opinion that this is a consequence which the legal profession and the public, would and should, in the interest of the State, be prepared to endure, provided they received an assurance from the Government that the restoration of the Four Courts would be undertaken at an early date. (Sighnithe), GLENAVY, Cathaoirleach an Choiste.
5 Meitheamh, 1924. |
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