Revelations at the tribunals in Dublin Castle had exposed a very unpleasant underbelly of Irish life, said Mr David Norris (Ind).
Certain public representatives had been very concerned about a state of affairs, 20 or 30 years ago, where historic and otherwise significant buildings had, following the refusal of demolition, been exposed to the elements. Sometimes people had been hired to strip the roofs, he said.
Following such deliberate and calculated exposure, a building would be declared dangerous and demolished on foot of an order. If ever a definition was needed of a northside Dublin planning permission, he said, it had been provided in the evidence of Mr Gogarty to the Flood tribunal.
When Mr Norris went on to refer to the instructions of a building company, the Leas-Cathaoir leach, Mr Liam Cosgrave, advised him that he was straying and that it would be better to leave the tribunal to its work.
Mr Norris replied that he was merely giving an example of the kind of happening that the Architectural Heritage (National Inventory) and Historic Monuments (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill was intended to cure.
Turvey House near Donabate, one of the very few continuously inhabited 16th century houses on the north side of Dublin, had, according to the evidence, been deliberately exposed to the weather so that it could be pulled down. It had been said that a kind of cross network of collaboration had been involved in the destruction of what had been one of Dublin's most important landmarks. He and others had suspected at that time that hot money was floating around and was being channelled into the demolition of parts of our architectural heritage. That was a scandal and a shame.
It was most interesting to look at the names that were surfacing now and he hoped that journalists would do so; that they would look at the various holdings and property investment trust companies, at the names of personnel that were turning up in various records and check them against Frank McDonald's book, The Destruction of Dublin.
Mr Norris added: "You will see a very nasty story rising to the surface of people who, in the words of James Joyce, not only sold their country for three pence ha'penny but got down on their bended knees and thanked the almighty Christ that they had a country to sell. Maybe it was not a country, but they certainly sold out our architectural heritage wholesale as hard as they possibly could."
The Bill passed the second stage. The Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms Sile de Valera, said it would provide legislative backing for the Government's commitment to give full legal protection to sites of artistic, heritage and historic interest, and to introduce measures to promote the preservation of our heritage dwellings.