A row has erupted over a plan to demolish a historic cottage, which served as a column headquarters of the old IRA, to make way for a new housing development.
Rose Cottage in Co Longford was the headquarters of Gen Seán MacEoin and the north Longford flying column during the "Battle of Ballinalee" in 1920.
A close friend of Michael Collins, MacEoin was a blacksmith who went on to become chief of staff of the Army and later a Fine Gael government minister.
Known as the "blacksmith of Ballinalee", he came to prominence in the War of Independence and was admired by many in the IRA for leading practically the only effective column in the midlands.
He was captured in March 1921 and sentenced to death, but was eventually released from prison after Collins threatened to break off treaty negotiations with London unless he was freed. MacEoin seconded Arthur Griffith's motion that the Anglo-Irish Treaty should be accepted.
Midland Housing Development has recently applied to Longford County Council for permission to demolish the cottage and provide 10 single-storey houses in its place.
However, Longford Historical Society has opposed the plan and is calling on the council to put a preservation order on the house.