Campaigners battle to protect historic Moore Street's 1916 legacy

» Mark Moloney

The grandson of James Connolly speaks of his disgust at how such historically important buildings had been left to fall into disrepair

OVER 150 people gathered in Dublin on Sunday in support of the 'Save Moore Street' campaign to protect the last headquarters of the 1916 leaders and surrounding buildings.

Activists linked arms to symbolically protect the terrace of buildings which campaigners want to see preserved and turned into a historic quarter of the city in time for the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising.

The terraced housing was tunnelled through by the leaders of 1916 with Number 16 serving as their last headquarters during their escape from the nearby General Post Office which was surrounded and had come under bombardment from a British gunboat.

Now property developers want to destroy most of the terrace to make way for a six-storey shopping mall.

James Connolly-Heron, the grandson of Citizen Army leader James Connolly, said that “successive administrations, including the current one, have failed to protect Moore Street".

He went on to speak of his disgust at how such historically important buildings had been left to fall into disrepair and pledged that the Moore Street campaign would never allow a shopping mall to be built on the site.

Earlier in April, Dublin City councillors gave their backing to a report which said Heritage Minister Jimmy Deenihan should withhold consent for any new development work on Moore Street that would encroach on the historical site.

Speaking at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis in Castlebar earlier this month, Gerry Adams TD outlined his support for the Save Moore Street campaign, saying:

“The Government is contemplating bulldozing the area around Moore Street into the ground in the interests of private developers. Every person with a sense of national pride will oppose such a shameful act of vandalism. The Moore Street laneways of history should be developed as a 1916 Revolutionary Quarter.”