Plans for the creation of an "historic revolutionary quarter" and battlefield site at Dublin' s Moore Street are to be drawn up by Dublin City Council.
City councillors unanimously agreed last night to develop the plans following a High Court order in March protecting nearly all of the buildings on the east side of the street as well as the laneways leading to it.
Mr Justice Max Barrett declared the buildings a 1916 Rising "battlefield site" that collectively constitute a national monument.
Colm Moore, a nominee of the 1916 Relatives Association, took the case against the Minister for Arts and Heritage to extend national monument status to all Moore Street buildings linked to the Rising .
Four houses on the street, Nos 14-17, were designated national monuments in 2007. The Minister had argued that only these buildings merited national monument status and there was no wider battlefield site.
The judge declared as a national monument No 10 Moore Street; a portion of No 13 Moore Street comprising a party wall with No 12; Nos 18, 20 and 21 Moore Street; the one-time O’Brien’s water works, bottling stores and stables; and the so-called White House.
His declaration also covers O’Rahilly Parade; Moore Lane from Parnell Street to Henry Place; the entire “L” shape created by Henry Place; and Moore Street from the junction with Henry Place to the junction with O’Rahilly Parade.
The judge also directed that a large vinyl banner, commemorating the Rising, fixed to the facade of the terrace at Nos 14-17, be taken down because it is an unauthorised development.
No work done
The Government last year bought 14-17 Moore Street for €4 million for the creation of a 1916 commemorative centre.
Conservation work on the buildings had been due ahead of the centenary. But no work was carried out on the site in recent months due to the court proceedings, and the centre was not completed.
The council now intends to engage with all stakeholders to preserve and rejuvenate the run-down area and turn it into a new cultural quarter.
Most of the buildings now protected had been scheduled for demolition to make way for developer Joe O’Reilly’s €1.25 billion Dublin Central shopping complex.
Mr O’Reilly’s company, Chartered Land, has planning permission for the development on a site stretching from the former Carlton cinema on O’Connell Street to Moore Street until 2017. These plans will now have to be substantially redrawn as a result of the judgment.
