Save our site: 1916 spot under threat
The party was joined by the descendants of the Rising’s leaders yesterday where the proposed bill to preserve and restore the battlefield site in and around Moore St was announced.
Gerry Adams said his party has support from 50 opposition TDs for the bill, and he called on the Coalition to let it pass through the Dáil.
Relatives warn the site at 14-17 Moore St will be demolished as there are plans to build a shopping centre.
Mr Adams said: “When they evacuated the GPO they came along here. Three hundred men and women occupied this terrace. It was the last meeting of the provisional government which was declared when the Republic was proclaimed. James Connolly and Pádraig Pearse and James Clarke and the rest of them decided that they would surrender.”
Relatives of the leaders want the laneways and terrace surrounding the site declared a historical quarter.
James Connolly Heron, the great grandson of James Connolly, said: “It was in these lanes and streets that the brave men and women of 1916 sought security from the GPO after being subjected to artillery fire. Five of the six signatories to our proclamation spent their last hours of freedom in the very terrace that’s under threat of demolition.”
He said there was a choice in developing the area into a fitting tribute for the rising or into a “memorial for a disgraced Celtic Tiger era”.
