Moore Street Trust challenges council on protection of buildings

The Moore Street Preservation Trust has challenged Dublin City Council on its decision to grant permission for the redevelopment of Moore Street before conservation reports of the street could be completed.

The report, which was published earlier this month, found that historic buildings on the street should be added to the Record of Protected Structures.

Spokesperson for the group James Connolly Heron said: “The long awaited survey reports on buildings and structures in the Moore Street area now made available for consideration by Dublin City councillors is a very positive and welcome development.

“Campaigners and 1916 relatives have been calling for such an investigation for over two decades,” he said.

“That City Planners saw fit to grant consent to the Hammerson planning applications before these important reports were made available for consideration simply beggars belief.

“That consent cannot now be deemed valid.”

Connolly Heron says that the buildings involved with the 1916 Rising should be preserved and “recreated where necessary, in its entirety.”

“This identification of 1916 buildings, structures and elements throughout the historic area is clear evidence once and for all that the call by councillors for additions to be made to the Record of Protected Structures is the correct call,” he says.

“And that the terrace of houses that became the last refuge of the GPO volunteers in 1916 must be protected, preserved and recreated where necessary, in its entirety.

“More importantly, the findings support the position of The National Museum that there are Monuments throughout this historic area worthy of protection under National Monument legislation since their preservation is, without doubt, a matter of National importance within this, the last extant battleground of The Rising.”

The report recommended that a number of buildings on Moore Street and its environs be listed on the record, including 10, 20, and 21 Moore Street, 4 to 8 Henry Place, and 17 and 18 Henry Place.

“It is now incumbent on Minister Darragh O’Brien to exercise his authority and responsibilities as guardian of our history and heritage to issue blanket protection to Moore Street and environs through the issuing of preservation orders without further delay,” Connolly Heron says.

“The Moore Street Preservation Trust led by 1916 relatives salute all those who have campaigned for over two decades for the Moore Street battleground to be assessed and surveyed independent of commercial considerations.

“Were it not for their efforts these physical links to the event in our history that led to our freedom and Independence would have been levelled by the developers’ wrecking ball forever.”