Plans to restore Leinster Lawn, which was paved over almost 10 years ago to create a "temporary" car park for the Dáil, are to be reviewed at an Oireachtas Commission meeting next week.
A delegation from the Office of Public Works (OPW) is to appear before the commission to discuss plans for a two-storey underground car park, underneath Leinster House, which would facilitate the reinstatement of the lawn facing on to Merrion Square.
Leinster Lawn was replaced by a car park in July 1998 as a "temporary" measure during the construction of new facilities for Leinster House. The planning permission for the work at the time required that the lawn be reinstated after the works on Leinster House were completed in 2000. However, this was never done.
The car park on the lawn is now mainly used by Dáil staff and journalists. Politicians have their own reserved spaces to one side of the lawn or in front of Leinster House. The facility is available free to all serving and former members of the Oireachtas.
Promises of an underground car park have been made since 2000. The OPW in late 2006 told the Oireachtas Commission, an 11-member group of TDs and Senators which is responsible for the facilities at Leinster House, that a car park under the building was feasible and could be completed by the beginning of 2011. The OPW had expected an answer from the commission earlier this year, but no decision was made.
However, the new commission, formed since the general election, has scheduled a meeting with the OPW on December 12th to discuss the matter and it is expected that detailed proposals will be put forward.
The restoration of the lawn has been the subject of consistent campaigning by environmentalists over the years, including Green TD John Gormley, now the Minister for the Environment.
A spokesman for Mr Gormley said that he has no involvement in, or responsibility for, the project in his new role. A decision on the project, which will also require Government approval, would allow the car parking at the Kildare Street side of Leinster House to be removed.
The meeting next week is also likely to focus on the long-term development of the Leinster House complex. Proposals including the possible construction of a new Dáil chamber, or major works on the existing chamber and the expansion of the complex to take over the neighbouring Department of Agriculture offices, were made by the OPW to the commission in September 2006.
The expected increase in TD members over the coming years will require the expansion of Dáil facilities. Leinster House, built as the home of the earls of Kildare in the mid-18th century, was bought from the family a century later by the RDS.
