Office of Public Works Priorities and Progress: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-19 ============================================================ Mary Fitzpatrick (FF), Industrial and Commercial Panel As a Dub, it would be bad grace of me not to welcome the Minister of State. Beidh lá eile ar ár lads. There is no doubt about that. The OPW has a really important remit. It is pivotal to minding, operating, planning, developing and delivering our public buildings, heritage, national monuments and, obviously, responding to and mitigating against flood risk. In the constituency in which I live, I am really privileged. People in the capital city are really privileged. The Phoenix Park, the Botanic Gardens and Collins Barracks have all been delivered by the OPW. They are top-quality, world-class visitor attractions, and they are all free. There is no charge, and people will not a better quality experience. They are just fantastic. They are a pleasure and a treasure. I commend everybody in the OPW who has worked on the delivering them and who continues to work to deliver such really top-class, world-class sites and monuments. I have to say, however, that I am sick taking it in the back of the neck for things like shelters for two-wheeled vehicles. I am absolutely sick hearing about that, because people are really angry when they see taxpayers' money being wasted. The Minister of State knows - he has been here previously to reply to Commencement matters I have raised, and I thank him for giving his time - about Moore Street, which was mentioned by another Senator. I was first elected in 2004. The Government designated 14 to 17 Moore Street as a national monument in 2007. In 2016, 100 years after the Easter Rising, the State acquired the site. It is now 2026. I appreciate that the project has gone to tender. I thank that Minister of State for making that happen, but I ask him to make it his ambition to deliver it before the next general election. Another is project is that relating to the family law courts complex at Hammond Lane. My colleague Senator Clifford-Lee has raised this issue ad nauseam . I mean no disrespect to the Senator in saying that, she is truly hoarse from raising it. Hammond Lane has been in the works since 2007. The pace is glacial. That is inexcusable and completely unacceptable from the public's perspective. The final matter I wish to raise relates to the GPO. I am absolutely delighted that the Government has made a significant commitment to not allow the GPO to become just another vacant property. It has been designated within the national development plan, and €500 million in capital funding has been earmarked for its development. The GPO has enormous potential. O'Connell Street is already an architectural conservation area. There are great things happening in the area. The Minister of State has given a commitment in respect of it. The new poetry museum and the city library in Parnell Square are there. Also, there are plans for the Rotunda Hospital. There is lots happening there, but we need to ensure that the project relating to the GPO does not take another 20 years. That cannot be allowed to happen. The OPW must prove that it can work faster, smarter and more affordably. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-19/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:57+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-05-19