The Future of Moore Street
Last Thursday the relatives of the Signatories of
the 1916 Proclamation of the Republic and the Moore Street Preservation Trust
launched their detailed plan for the protection of the 1916 Moore Street
Battlefield site and for its development as a historic cultural quarter. They
were joined at the launched by many of those, including … and Mary Lou McDonald
TD and others who have campaigned against the developer led proposal for the
area that has been produced by British company Hammerson.
Hammerson’s plan which would see much of the
iconic 1916 architecture of the area demolished, has the support of An
Taoiseach Micheál Martin and his government. Mr. Martin, who met Hammerson and
endorsed its plan before the developer published its proposal, has refused,
thus far, to meet the relatives.
To their shame successive Irish governments have
supported the private development of Moore Street and allowed the national
monument at 14-17 Moore Street, the lasting meeting place of the 1916 leaders,
to fall into decay.
The Moore Street Preservation Trust, the 1916
Relatives and other Moore Street activists have fought a long, difficult public
and legal campaign to protect and preserve this site which the National Museum
of Ireland has described as: “The most important site in modern Irish
history.” And on Thursday the latest phase of that battle was launched
with the unveiling of the scale model of Moore Street and its environs.
Appropriately the Moore Street plan was unveiled in Ionad an Phiarsaigh,
the Pearse Centre,former home of the Pearse family in Dublin.
James Connolly Heron, the great grandson of James
Connolly, described Thursday as a: “A red letter day for the campaign …
Today the 1916 Relatives salute architects Seán Ó Muirí and James Kelly and the
Trust team for the realisation of a plan that we can enthusiastically endorse
and adopt as the way forward for the development of an area so close to our
hearts.”
Among those in attendance were Proinsias Ó
Rathaille, grandson of Michael Joseph O’Rahilly - The O’Rahilly -
Harry Coyle grandson of Henry Coyle and Brendan Mulvihill, grandson of Michael
Mulvihill. Their grandfathers were killed in the Battle of Moore Street.
James Connolly Heron and Proinsias Ó Rathaille
unveiled the model and an audio-visual presentation was made by Seán Ó Muirí.
The Moore Street Preservation Trust has photographs and details of the event
which was Covid compliant. They can be accessed at:
Face book page @MooreStreetTrust and https://www.facebook.com/MooreStreetTrust/photos/
Among others who took part or came along to
look at the model were Uachtarán Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald and Aengus
O’Snodaigh TD, Mark Ward TD, Seanadóir Niall O’Donnghaile . Dublin Cllr Micheál
MacDonncha, who is secretary of the Trust also spoke at the event.
The model and the detailed renderings and graphic
designs will now be available for the Minister of Housing Darragh O’Brien and
An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, as well as the planners, to view and examine.
The future of Moore Street is not just vitally
important in the context of the 1916 Easter Rising but it is also inextricable
linked to the planning laws and regulations that are supposed to protect
important historic buildings and sites of national importance. Last year a
hotel developer succeeded in demolishing the home of the O’Rahilly at Herbert
Park in the city. The building had strong historic links to that period of
Ireland’s cultural and historic renaissance and to the revolutionary period at
the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. In
recent days it has also emerged that part of Merchants Arch, the covered
laneway into Temple Bar from the Ha’penny Bridge is to be demolished, including
part of The Cobblestone an iconic traditional music venue, to make way for a
hotel and restaurant.
13,000 people have already signed a petition
against the development including Imelda May, who has also supported the Moore
Street campaign.
Tony
McMahon
The
great Tony McMahon has died. A musician and broadcaster Tony was one of the
giants of traditional music. His music on the button accordion was passionate,
deeply Irish, poignant, uplifting and spiritual. His programmes, The Pure Drop,
The Long Note, Come West Along the Road and The Green Linnet with the late
Barney McKenna are classics. So too his duets with Noel Hill. Irish music has
lost a giant figure. Tony was a supporter of Féile an Phobail in hard times.
His playing of Port na nPúcaí at a seisiún in Conway Mill remains with me to
this day. He also contacted me after the Gibraltar killings with an offer to
organise a concert in tribute to those who were assassinated that day. Two
concerts were held. Tony also supported the Armagh Women and the H-Block men. Tony
also contributed a bi-lingual piece to Hunger Strike – Reflections; a book of
essays about the H-Block hunger strikes. He was a proud patriotic Clare man. Mo
laoch thú Tony.
Michael
Davitt GAC.
In
October 2006 and again in August 2021 I was asked to give a talk on Michael
Davitt to the members of Davitts GAC on the Falls Road as part of the Davitts
Culture, Sport and History Weekend. I enjoyed the craic. My thanks to
Chairperson Tommy Shaw, Terry Park and others for a good evening.
Michael
Davitt was an amazing activist. An idealist, a Fenian, a labour activist and a
founder of the Land League. He was also a founder patron of the GAA. Soccer
heads will be pleased to know that he also laid a sod of Donegal turf in 1892,
on behalf of Glasgow Celtic on their new ground at Parkhead. These and other
stories are contained in Michael Davitt- Unselfish Idealist, available from
Davitts GAC or An Fhuiseog. www.thelarkstore.ie
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