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Moore St Demolition Gets Green Light
The
battle to save the iconic 1916 Moore Street Battlefield site has been ongoing
for over 20 years. During that time there have been a series of plans by
developers, appeals against those plans, court cases, protests and sit-ins.
Last week, in an appalling decision An Bord Pleanála (ABP) – the Planning
Authority in the Irish State – ruled on the remaining appeals and published its
recommendations on the future development of the site.
In
its decision An Bord Pleanála dismissed all the appeals against UK developer
Hammerson’s plans made by the Moore St. Preservation Trust and the Relatives of
the Signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. Despite accepting that the Hammerson
plan contravenes the Dublin City Development Plan, An Bord
Pleanála backed the Hammerson plan which will see much of the Battlefield
site demolished to make way for a mixed retail, office, hotel and
residential scheme.
The
Battlefield site runs west from O’Connell Street to Moore Street, and north
from the GPO and Henry Street to Parnell Street. It covers the area into which
the defenders of the GPO withdrew duing Easter Week 1916; the houses through
which they tunnelled to number 16 Moore St where the last meeting of the 1916
leaders was held; to O’Rahilly Parade where the O’Rahilly died after being shot
by British soldiers; to the place where Padraig Pearse and Nurse Elizabeth
O’Farrell delivered the surrender to the British; to the Rotunda where the
Republicans were held overnight surrounded by British soldiers, to Tom Clarke’s
shop in Parnell St.
The
Moore St. Preservation Trust is a not for profit organisation led by Relatives
of the Signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. The Trust has created a plan to
preserve the Moore St. Battlefield site as a 1916 cultural and historical
quarter in the heart of our capital city.
The
heroic story of the Rising is rooted in these streets and buildings. These are the
‘laneways of history’ - all places intimately connected to the Rising and to
the men and women who participated in it. Now many of these buildings and the
lanes and streets that connect them will be demolished if An Bord Pleanála and
Hammerson have their way.
·
Under their
plan Nos. 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 and most of 20 Moore Street will be
demolished to make way for the construction of a large scale archway.
- The rear of these
building will be demolished.
- All existing
buildings on the site bounded by Moore Street, O’Rahilly Parade and Moore Lane
will be demolished.
- Number 1-7 Moore
Street will be demolished and Nos. 8 & 9 Moore Street will be substantially
demolished
- 38 Henry Street
will be demolished.
- 41 Henry Street
will be demolished.
- There will be a
demolition of other buildings and structures to clear the site totalling a
floor area c. 6,701 sq. m (c. 72,130 sq.ft.)
- The boundary wall will be demolished onto Moore Lane at the rear of Nos. 50 - 51 and Nos. 52 - 54 Upper O'Connell Street when No. 54 is a Protected Structure.
Many
of the buildings have been designated as ‘Protected Structures’ by Dublin City
Council and currently Hammerson has initiated a judicial review against the
Council’s decisions which is expected to be heard in the next few months.
James
Connolly Heron, great grandson of James Connolly and a member of the Moore
Street Preservation Trust and Relatives of the 1916 Signatories described An
Bord Pleanála’s decision as “deeply disappointing though not surprising
given ABP’s record”. However, he made it clear that the “battle to save intact
this hugely important 1916 heritage site is not over. The Moore Street
Preservation Trust will now study An Bord Pleanála’s decision in detail and
consider our response.”
Uachtarán
Shinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald, who was one of those who had appealed against the
Hammerson plan, said "the destruction of the Moore Street 1916 battle
ground site will not be accepted. The government must intervene to prevent it
from happening". If it is allowed to proceed the Hammerson plan for
the Moore St. 1916 Battlefield site will destroy much of this historic area.
The possibility of creating a unique historic and cultural quarter as proposed
in the MSPT alternative plan will be lost.
There
are less than eight weeks left in which to launch a legal challenge. If you
support the Moore St. Preservation Trust and the Signatories of the 1916
Proclamation and if you agree that society has a responsibility to protect our
cultural and historical legacy then join the campaign by signing into the Moore
Street Preservation Trust facebook and supporting its efforts to Save Moore
St. https://www.facebook.com/MooreStreetTrust/?locale=en_Gb
Western
governments are Guilty of Genocide
Israel
is a first world nuclear armed state methodically obliterating the Palestinian
people using the most advanced weaponry its allies in the west can provide.
While millions protest around the world against this genocide a huge amount of
responsibility lies with those political leaders in the USA, Britain and in the
European Union who by their shameful actions have emboldened and weaponised
Israel’s slaughter of civilians.
By
pouring billions into Israel’s war machine, and constantly excusing Israel’s
butchery of civilians in the name of defence Israel’s western allies are as
guilty of the deaths of the Palestinian innocents as Israel itself.
Netanyahu
isn’t concerned about the fate of the approximately 100 Israeli hostages or of
the treatment of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel or the
pogroms on the west Bank or the gathering gloom around an escalation and
extension of the conflict into Lebanon and perhaps wider. All of this plays
into his hands. It allows him to maintain control and to further his aim of
creating a greater Israel with Palestinians expelled from their homes and their
land.
The
US government, the British government, the European Union and some of its
larger member states are responsible for this.
Last
week the United Nations General Assembly passed a motion demanding that
Israel end its illegal occupation of Palestine. Israel won’t leave because it
is the right thing to do it will only leave when it is forced by political and
economic sanctions. The Irish government can play a key role in this at the UN
but also by immediately enacting the Occupied Territories Bill and the Illegal
Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill.
Máire
Ferguson
Every
week seems to bring the death of the last of that generation who kept freedoms
flame lit in the twilight decades of the republican struggle from the 1950s on.
Emmett O Connell from the South Bronx was one of these. Tá sé ar slí an fhirrne
anios. So was Máire Ferguson.
Máire
was in her 95th year. She died last week. Her husband Des died
three years ago aged 91. They were an inseparable couple, deeply committed to
each other, to their family of ten children, and to An Cumann Lúthchleas
Gael. Des was a wonderful footballer who won two All-Ireland Senior
Football Championships. He was also a lovely hurler. Máire and
Des were strong republican activist too. Máire’s parents were both
active in 1916. Her father Jack McDonnell was in Dublin’s 2nd Battalion
and fought in the GPO garrison in O’Connell Street. Her mother Georgina Wright
was in Cumann na mBán. Des’s family also had IRA connections going back to the
1920s in Castlewellan.
I
first met Máire and Des in the 1970s when Des arranged for Colette and I to go
a little chalet in Aughynelli in Meath when I was released from Long Kesh.
Máire and Des were wonderful hosts. There was always a warm welcome. A cup of
tea. A bit of homemade scone. Always an interest and a curiosity about what was
happening. Martin McGuinness, Des and Máire were very firm friends and he loved
them both.
Des
and Máire were firm supporters of the peace process and of the efforts to
develop Sinn Féin. Without doubt we would not be as strong as we are today
without their activism.
Bá
mhaith lion mo comhrón – comh bhris mo chroi a deanamh theaglach,
Máire Ferguson, le Des óg (Níl sé ro óg anois) Orlaith, Terry, Eimear,
Conor, Pearse, Barry, Diarmuid, Rory. Agus tá muid ag smaoinanh faoi Ronan ar a
lá mór seo.
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