FROM THE ARCHIVES:In 1924, the Dáil and Seanad met in Leinster House, the home of the RDS which had lent the building to the Oireachtas for the short term, but were looking for another temporary as well as a permanent home. The head of government, WT Cosgrave, set out the options.
[COSGRAVE SAID] if they decided to take over what was know as the “Irish House of Parliament” they would not be able to enter into possession before March 1931.
What they were concerned with in the resolution was what was the best accommodation that could be provided for the Oireachtas between now and that period. The total available space in Leinster House was something like 32,000 square feet, and if it were decided to remain there a considerable amount of building would be essential. They had examined the Royal Hospital [Kilmainham] from that aspect, and after providing for rooms in which the Dáil and Senate would meet, there was available something like 48,000 square feet. In the case of the old House of Parliament, after accommodation had been provided for the Dáil and Senate, the accommodation available would be approximately 38,000 square feet.
The time that it would take to prepare the Royal Hospital would be twelve months. Apart from the Dáil and Senate Chambers there would be 95 rooms with every accommodation which would be required. There was also space for a library within the quadrangle. The total cost of the necessary alterations would be £45,000. In the case of the Bank of Ireland, or rather the old Irish Parliament House, it had been estimated that it would cost somewhere in the neighbourhood of a million pounds.
There had been rumours that he and his friends were interested in the Royal Hospital. There was a tribe in this country known as speculators, and they had not been idle for the last few years. He did not know that a good deal of the opposition to this Kilmainham site had not been on the part of these speculators. He was not in favour of putting money into the pockets of these gentlemen. He had heard of a case where premises had been acquired for £4,000 and £3,000 had been got out of them in rent. If these premises were required as an annexe to the Houses of Parliament they would be asked to pay £20,000. He was just as anxious to clip the wings of people who were indifferent to the country’s economic condition as he was to deal with those who stood in the way of the provision of cheaper houses.
This proposal was put forward in good faith, and on the understanding that it was a temporary arrangement, as they were not now in a position to spend huge sums of money for the housing of the first Institution in the country. They believed that provision for suitable housing for ten years could be made at a minimum expenditure, and it would not prejudice the decision as to where the ultimate home of the Oireachtas should be.