Sinn Féin leader, Gerry Adams TD, has called on the minister for arts, heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan, to intervene urgently to save the Moore Street National Monument.

Speaking in Leinster House today, Teachta Adams said: "The terrace in Moore Street is in a state of serious deterioration, having languished in a vacant and neglected state for many years.

"Latest reports from relatives of the 1916 leaders are that the buildings are now in a perilous state and that urgent intervention is needed to prevent their destruction by decay.

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"This week an emergency visit to the National Monument was requested for the Oireachtas All-Party Working Group on Moore Street including Micheál Martin, Joe Costello, Maureen O'Sullivan and Gerry Adams, but insurmountable obstacles were put in our way by Chartered Land, the owners of the site.

"Under the National Monuments Act the Oireachtas are the guardians of the site and the minister, Jimmy Deenihan is duty bound to ensure the care and preservation of this unique and now very vulnerable, historical site.

"He should intervene in order to permit the visit by the Oireachtas group to proceed. He must also act urgently to save the battlefield site and the national monument."

(CD)