Honouring 1916

THE unanimous approval by Dublin city councillors for Lord Mayor Mícheál Mac Donncha’s motion to proceed with the ongoing listing process for 1916 buildings in the Moore Street area is a very significant step in the future preservation and development of the last extant 1916 Battlefield.

The buildings have already been subject to external and internal assessment in the Shaffrey Report for DCC, the Myles Battlefield Report for Chartered Land, and in the most recent partially completed Kelly Report commissioned by the Planning Authority itself. These reports are backed up in the High Court judgment of Justice Max Barrett, who found all 1916 buildings in the area worthy of protection.

The continuing, inexplicable, refusal of the owners, Hammerson’s, to grant survey access to these historic buildings to the appointed team of experts, and their failure to engage with the minister’s consultative group cannot be allowed stifle the will of our elected representatives.

They must allow open access to the experts to continue the process that will save this 1916 battlefield from the wrecking ball. They have no choice: the people, through their elected representatives, have spoken. James Connolly Heron David Ceannt Proinsias Ó Rathaille, The 1916 Relatives Centenary Initiative, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.