The Dublin Reconstruction (Emergency Provisions) Act 1916 was an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

, given

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...

on 22 December 1916. The act provided for the reconstruction of areas of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

which had been destroyed in the Easter Rising of April 1916, under the supervision of the Dublin city architect.

Background

Significant areas of central Dublin had been destroyed or damaged during the rebellion, particularly around Sackville Street, and included the loss of notable buildings such as the Hotel Metropole, Dublin,

Clerys Clerys was a long-established department store on O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland, a focal point of the street. The business dates from 1853, however the current building dates from 1922, having been completely destroyed in the 1916 Eas ...

, the

General Post Office, Dublin The General Post Office (GPO; ga, Ard-Oifig an Phoist) is the headquarters of An Post — the Irish Post Office. It is the principal post office of Dublin — the capital city of Ireland — and is situated in the centre of O'Connell Street, t ...

and the Academy House of the

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the RIA, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became in ...

. Under pressure from Dubliners such as

William Martin Murphy William Martin Murphy (6 January 1845 – 26 June 1919) was an Irish businessman, newspaper publisher and politician. A member of parliament (MP) representing Dublin from 1885 to 1892, he was dubbed "William ''Murder'' Murphy" among the Irish ...

, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland established the

Property Losses (Ireland) Committee The Property Losses (Ireland) Committee was a committee established by the Dublin Castle administration in Ireland in 1916 to assess claims for damages to buildings and property as a result of destruction caused by the Easter Rising. Although prin ...

on 15 June 1916 to assess claims for compensation, including applications relating to the nearly 200 damaged or destroyed buildings. The following month, a delegation of Dubliners led by mayor James Gallagher met the British prime minister,

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

, in London. The group requested financial assistance to the

Dublin Corporation Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...

for reconstruction work and for workable town planning regulations to ensure that buildings were restored, at a minimum, in a manner not worse than before and ideally, as Gallagher put it to the Home Secretary, "in consonance with a well devised town planning and street widening scheme". A similar view was expressed by the

Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland ( ga, Institiúid Ríoga Ailtirí na hÉireann) founded in 1839, is the "competent authority for architects and professional body for Architecture in the Republic of Ireland." The RIAI's purpose ...

and by

Rudolf Maximilian Butler Rudolf Maximilian Butler, RIAI, FRIBA, RSAI, RHA, RIA, (30 September 1872 – 3 February 1943) was a well-known Irish Roman Catholic ecclesiastical architectural historian, academic, journalist, and architect of Dublin active, throughout late ...

. As the Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1909 did not apply to Ireland, the Corporation sought legislative powers to have some measure of control over the character of the buildings to be erected and to improve streets. The

Dublin Castle administration Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, however, objected to the idea of British taxpayers funding the rebuilding of a beautified Sackville Street, while the Irish Property Owners’ Association resisted attempts to control or increase the expense of rebuilding plans. An

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ...

minute stated that the "Dublin Corporation ought not to be encouraged to embark upon grandiose schemes of beautification, which are of the nature of luxuries".

The Act

As a result of the petition and after negotiation with affected parties, the Dublin Reconstruction (Emergency Provisions) Act passed into law in December 1916. The Act compelled those proposing to rebuild to submit to the Corporation elevations of new buildings, in addition to the already required plans and sections. It gave the Dublin city architect, Horace T. O'Rourke, the power to approve or reject plans to rebuild the city that were not consistent with the historic appearance of the main thoroughfares in the city. However, no uniform design scheme proved possible for the Sackville Street area. The Act also gave legislative authority for a £700,000 loan to the Dublin Corporation and for the compensation grants recommended by the Property Losses (Ireland) Committee. Within strict limits, and only with the approval of the Local Government Board, the Corporation was empowered to loan money to enable rebuilding. It could also compulsorily purchase sites where owners failed to rebuild. Following further damage to Dublin during the Irish Civil War, the

Oireachtas of the Irish Free State The Oireachtas of the Irish Free State ( ga, Oireachtas Shaorstát Éireann) was the legislature of the Irish Free State from 1922 until 1937. It was established by the 1922 Constitution of Ireland which was based from the Anglo-Irish Treaty. ...

passed the Dublin Reconstruction (Emergency Provisions) Act 1924.Dublin Reconstruction (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1924
Irish Statute Book. Retrieved 5 December 2022. This made similar amendments to the law relating to reconstruction of buildings damaged in 1922. Although the Town and Regional Planning Act 1934 set town planning on a firm legislative foundation, the formal planning of the development of Dublin did not begin until the 1960s.

References

{{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1916 Repealed United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1916 in Ireland Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning Ireland