Ahern to be asked to save 1916 building

A campaign to save 16 Moore Street - the last headquarters of the leaders of the 1916 Rising - will be stepped up this weekend…

A campaign to save 16 Moore Street - the last headquarters of the leaders of the 1916 Rising - will be stepped up this weekend when Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is urged to intervene.

The building became a brief headquarters for the leaders of the Rising after they abandoned the GPO on Friday, April 28th, 1916.

Pádraig Pearse, Thomas Clarke, Joseph Plunkett, Seán MacDermott and William Pearse made the decision to surrender when they were gathered around the bed of the wounded James Connolly in 16 Moore Street on Easter Saturday.

However, the building has fallen into serious disrepair in recent years, particularly since it was vacated by a clothes shop in 2003.

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The building forms part of the Carlton development site, which is the subject of a compulsory purchase order by Dublin City Council. The former cinema site has been the subject of a long-running legal action between the council and the Carlton Group.

Tomorrow three children will present a letter to Mr Ahern when he attends the annual 1916 commemoration at Arbour Hill.

Matt Doyle, of the National Graves Association (NGA), said the children had been chosen to present the letter because the building would not be available to them to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising if the Taoiseach did not intervene now.

The NGA has been campaigning to save the building since 2002, but Mr Doyle said nothing had been done despite several Dublin City Council motions.

A council spokeswoman said its recently published development plan gave a commitment to convert the building into an Easter 1916 museum. However, action could not be taken until legal proceedings were resolved.

Paddy Lennon, of the NGA, said he had "no doubt that it would suit certain people all round if the building fell apart and was forgotten about.

"In 2016, just 11 years away, politicians will be falling over themselves to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising.

"It would be a tragedy and a shame if there was no official venue to mark this glorious event in Irish history," he said.

Alison Healy

Alison Healy

Alison Healy is a contributor to The Irish Times