Moore Street campaign gets welcome boost

THE campaign to protect the last stand of the 1916 Rising at Moore Street got a welcome boost recently when a Private Members’ Bill to preserve the national monument was amended and passed.

The motion calling for the Government to preserve and transform the GPO-Moore Street area into an

“historic quarter and battlefield site” was passed by 78 votes to 38.

The motion was brought forward by Sinn Fein in light of a planning application to alter the national monument, which is currently being reviewed by the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government.

Descendants of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation, who have been campaigning to save the site for over ten years drafted the amendment.

In an address to the Dáil Dublin Central TD, Mary Lou McDonald (SF), said the motion to amend the Bill was to

“conserve and secure a vital part of our heritage

? that is in

“imminent danger of demolition

?.

“Moore Street and the laneways between it and the GPO on O’Connell Street form the most important battlefield site in modern Irish history,

? she explained.

“It was on this street and in the laneways behind it that the course of Irish history was changed in Easter Week 1916.

“With the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising approaching, the cause of conserving and securing this site is even more urgent and the families of the heroic men and women of 1916 have been campaigning on the issue.

“The site deserves to be restored and used to teach the present and future generations about the ideals and events of 1916.

“It has global historical, cultural and tourism potential.

?

Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government Jimmy Deenihan said a decision on the application for alterations to the Moore Street monument would be taken

“in accordance with high level of protection applied to these buildings and with regard to their national and historical significance

?.

“I want to state unequivocally that the buildings at numbers 14-17 Moore Street are robustly and comprehensively protected as a national monument under the provisions of the National Monuments Acts,

? he stated.

“No change can be made to the buildings – internally or externally – without my express consent.

“I am acutely aware of the imminent approach of the 1916 centenary celebrations and of the critical need for this massively important historical site to be brought up to a standard befitting the occasion.

“Time is rapidly running out if this goal is to be realised and it is my intention to make a decision on the consent application as soon as the necessary deliberations and consultations have been completed.

?

The Minister also paid tribute to the campaigners who have ensured that the Moore Street houses were designated as a national monument.

“I want to join in paying special tribute to the relatives of the signatories to the 1916 Proclamation and the other campaigners who have managed to raise public awareness of the historic buildings on Moore Street,

? he said.

“But for them what is now a national monument could have been demolished under planning permission granted in 1999 that would have allowed this to happen.

“It was their efforts that led to the Preservation Order being placed on numbers 14 to 17 Moore Street in January 2007 – a decision I fully concur with.

?