The decision by Dublin City Council to sell its last properties on Moore Street as part of plans to redevelop the Carlton Cinema site, could mean a fast-food outlet operating "right next to a national monument", one of the main campaigners to save numbers 14 to 17 Moore Street has said.
James Connolly-Heron, great grandson James Connolly, one of the 1916 martyrs, said it could be argued that Monday's decision by councillors, to sell numbers 24 and 25 Moore Street to the Chartered Lands developers undermined an Oireachtas ruling that numbers 14-17 were a national monument and must be protected.
Mr Connolly-Heron, who is a member of the Dublin City-Centre Alliance campaigning to have the Moore Street buildings preserved, said they were the last headquarters of the Provisional Government established in the 1916 Rising.
He believed the buildings at 14,15,16 and 17 Moore street would now be subsumed as numbers 24 and 25 were key 'buffers' in their protection. He said the buildings will not be properly protected in the developer's plans to spend €1.2 billion to redevelop the 5.5 acre site with shops, offices and apartments.
"The councillors who voted for this are facilitating the Chartered Lands proposal to build on the complete site a giant shopping centre. The four houses will be there but will be next to shops being used for normal retail use. We could see a fast-food outlet operating right next to a national monument and that's not right."
Matt Doyle of the National Graves Association also said he was "disappointed" at the decision. "The very fact that they have been sold to the developer would infringe on the national monument. We'll be meeting the Dublin City Centre Alliance and will decide on our next step from there. We are disappointed but it is by no means over."
Among councillors opposed to the Monday night decision was independent Maureen O'Sullivan, based in the East Wall area, who said she was unhappy there was no specific safeguard in the plans, to ensure the integrity of the buildings.
"I would fear they could be swallowed up. The driving force for any developer is profit and I just feel specific conditions should be put in place for the buildings' preservation."
Other councillors however support Monday's move. Fianna Fáil councillor Michael Donnelly said the area needed a "huge infusion" of investment.
"We are blessed to have the prospect of this investment, particularly at the moment [of economic restraint]," he said.
