Sinn Féin TDs back occupation of 1916 site in heritage row
SINN Féin leader Gerry Adams and party president Mary Lou McDonald joined protesters objecting to preservation work being carried out on buildings central to the 1916 Easter Rising.
About 30 people illegally occupied the ‘fragile’ buildings in Dublin city centre.
Ms McDonald also addressed the 200-strong crowd of protesters on the landmark Moore Street.
The rally was held to oppose building works being undertaken on the street as part of the 1916 commemorations, which activists contend could destroy a site of historical significance.
About 30 people made their way on to the site on Thursday evening after hoardings went up to allow preparations for construction and redevelopment at the site.
The Government bought the buildings 14-17 on Moore Street last year as part of a €4million restoration plan, which includes No 16, where the rebel leaders held
‘It could destroy the historical site’
their last council of war and where the decision was taken by the surviving rebels to surrender on April 29, 1916.
However, some protesters, who included relatives of the 1916 rebels, feel buildings on either side of the National Monument site should be preserved too.
The group is concerned that planning permission granted to developers of a shopping centre allows for partial demolition of the Moore Street houses which, they say, will destroy the integrity of the historically important site.
This includes No 18, which will be knocked down to make room for an entrance to a museum, and potentially No 10, where the rebels took refuge as British forces overran the GPO.
The call comes despite documentary evidence showing that Numbers 18 and 19, the former Paris Bakery, were in ruins prior to the 1916 Rising. Evidence from the Ordnance Survey suggests that No 19 was still in ruins as late as 1939, while No 13 had received a new façade and modern interior where nothing survives of the historic fabric.
Minister for Arts Heather Humphreys, who is leading the charge in the 1916 commemorations, said she was ‘very disappointed’ by the disruption caused to the restoration works yesterday.
In a statement, the Minister said that Numbers 13 and 18 and 19 are not part of the National Monument, and are not historically significant.
She also advised that the occupation of the building poses risks to the individuals involved and the building itself, which is in a very fragile state.
Other politicians that took part in the demonstration included Independent TD Maureen O’Sullivan and People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett.
Meanwhile the Save Moore Street Campaign is launching a High Court application next Monday to halt the works at the site.
According to the Minister, the demolition of buildings 13 and 18 is necessary to safeguard the National Monument’s long term stability, as it is ‘an old building built without proper foundations’.
She emphasised that the Department only has control over the National Monument and the development of the wider street is a matter for Dublin City Council.
A spokesperson for Dublin City Council said: ‘The lands adjoining the National Monument site at 1417 Moore Street were the subject of a planning application which was granted planning permission in March of 2010 by An Bord Pleanála for their comprehensive redevelopment. This permission was granted for a seven-year period and is valid until March 2017 next.
‘It was a condition of this permission that any works to the National Monument lands must be the subject of a separate Ministerial consent under the National Monument legislation.’
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD says he is ‘very concerned’ about the developments which led to the occupation.
He said: ‘As one of the most historically important sites in the history of the nation, Moore Street has a special place in the hearts of citizens. It is vital to ensure that it is redeveloped in the respectful and dignified manner befitting of its status.’
The row of houses was declared a National Monument in 2007 and the Government acquired the site in March of last year.
The demonstration ended yesterday afternoon but 30 or so activists remained in occupation of the buildings.
IT was hardly a surprise to see Sinn Féin TDs in Moore Street yesterday supporting those who had occupied the buildings in which rebels fleeing the GPO in 1916 took refuge to avoid capture. Sinn Féin is, as we know, accomplished in hopping on any bandwagon, and the lure of one with a republican tinge clearly was doubly irresistible.
As it happens, this newspaper has long reported on, and supported, moves to have these buildings preserved for their undoubted historic significance, and indeed has called for that whole area of the north inner city to be developed as a historic and cultural centre.
But this is something that can be done only by political will, at city council and national level. It is called the democratic process, and those elected to it are best placed to ensure it happens.
Sinn Féin might well believe that in supporting the occupation, it is burnishing and showcasing its republican credentials, when in fact it simply is demonstrating that it still has not learned how democracy works. Yesterday’s direct action might not have taken the form of the previous efforts by the party’s paramilitary friends, but it still is profoundly disturbing to see elected politicians members of an elected party forsaking the democratic channels open to them (and, let’s remember, Dublin’s Lord Mayor, Críona Ní Dhálaigh is a Sinn Féin councillor) in favour of populist protest.
It is even more ironic when you consider the reasons for the Easter Rising in the first place. Then, a people without the means to govern themselves acted to achieve independence, and to establish the very democracy that now sees Sinn Féin in the Dáil. The party might think it is honouring the fallen of 1916 but in fact it is doing exactly the opposite, and dishonouring the precious democracy the rebels fought and died for.