RELATIVES OF the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation will meet this week with the board of the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) to discuss plans to partially demolish buildings on Dublin’s Moore Lane, said to have been occupied by the leaders of the Easter Rising.
Members of the Connolly, Clarke, Ceannt, MacDonagh and Plunkett families will meet Nama chairman Frank Daly and chief executive Brendan MacDonagh on Thursday.
The 19th-century buildings at 17 and 18 Moore Lane have been judged unsafe by Dublin City Council, which has ordered they be lowered in height to make them safe. The buildings, which back on to Moore Street, form part of the Carlton site due to be redeveloped by Dundrum Shopping Centre developer Joe O’Reilly.
Mr O’Reilly was granted permission last year for a large-scale development to include retail and residential units, restaurants and car spaces. He is one of the first 10 developers going into Nama. He was also named as one of 10 Anglo Irish Bank customers who borrowed from the lender to buy a 10 per cent stake in the bank.
The relatives’ group sought the meeting with Nama to express their opposition to Mr O’Reilly being facilitated “in any way” by the agency to proceed with his 800,000 sq ft development.
The scheme, which was granted planning permission last March by An Bord Pleanála, encompasses an area of 2.7 hectares.
Due to their historic role, four houses on Moore Street were designated national monuments by then minister for the environment Dick Roche in 2007. Number 16 Moore Street is said to be where the rebel leaders made the decision to surrender to British forces after the Rising. The Moore Lane buildings are not protected structures, but campaigners say they should be preserved.
