Opposition politicians have questioned the legality of a decision by the Office of Public Works (OPW) to allow a company to erect a 25-metre mobile phone mast in the grounds of a national monument, the Pearse Museum, in Rathfarnham, Dublin.
It is one of the most important properties associated with Pádraig Pearse.
A telecommunications company has now applied for planning permission for the structure, which will be disguised as a tree. It is to be built in the car park of St Enda's, the former school run by Pádraig Pearse which subsequently became the home of his mother and sister.
St Enda's is one of 24 publicly owned properties where the OPW has decided to award licences to telecommunication companies to erect mobile phone masts, in return for an estimated €1 million per anum in rent. Local community groups and residents have lodged a series of objections to the planning application.
Local Green Party TD Eamon Ryan has now questioned whether the deal involving St Enda's is in line with the bequest from the sister of Pádraig Pearse, Margaret, who left the property to the State when she died in 1968.
Ms Pearse, a former Fianna Fáil senator, left it to the State "to the intent that the same may constitute a memorial to Patrick Henry Pearse and William James Pearse and to their deeds and efforts for the freedom of Ireland and the preservation and promotion of the Irish Language".
Mr Ryan questioned whether allowing a mobile phone mast was in line with her wishes and said he did not think it was "appropriate".
"I think it's symbolic that Pearse would now be looking out at a 90-foot antenna outside the door. I also think there's a real onus here on the Government in relation to preserving our national monuments and public buildings, and I am concerned this is setting a precedent."
Mr Ryan has also questioned whether the licence was legal under new national monuments legislation, which he believes requires the director of the National Museum to be consulted before any proposed change to a national monument.
Located in 50 acres of parkland, St Enda's is one of the best-known sites associated with the Pearse family. Formerly known as the Hermitage, the building has links with a nationalist heritage dating back to the early 19th century, when Robert Emmet, a regular visitor to the house, courted Sarah Curran.
In 1910, Pádraig Pearse moved his experimental bilingual school, St Enda's, to the Hermitage and he continued to teach there, along with his brother Willie, until the 1916 Rising. Thomas McDonagh, another of the 1916 leaders, was the deputy principal.
The school was then run by his mother for a further 19 years until 1935, after which it was used as her home until her death in the 1940s, and by her daughter Margaret who lived there until her death in the late 1960s.
The planning application comes as a letter by Pádraig Pearse, announcing the surrender of the Irish Volunteers in 1916, goes to auction tonight at James Adam Auctioneers in Dublin, with a reserve price of between €50,000 and €80,000.