CAMPAIGNERS FOR THE preservation of a derelict Dublin street synonymous with the 1916 Easter Rising have launched legal action against planning permission to revamp the area.

The Moore Street Preservation Trust, whose membership includes descendants of the rebels who staged the insurrection against British rule, have launched a judicial review seeking to have a High Court judge block the permission.

The leaders of the rising retreated from the GPO on O’Connell Street to a row of terraced houses on Moore Street in the final stages of the rising. Revolutionary leader Patrick Pearse formally surrendered to the Crown forces on the street.

Four properties in the red brick terrace row – 14 to 17 – are designated as a national monument and there are plans to turn them into a museum.

Planning permission was granted to property firm Hammerson in 2021 to develop pathways between and around the street and build a town square in the area.

The development plan also includes drawings for new retail and office spaces on the, largely, derelict street. It would see the demolition of homes which current sit opposite the national monument.

The project insists however, on its website, that No 14-17 Moore St will be retained as it is due to its national monument status and historical links to the 1916 Easter Rising.

Generated image of what the new development on Moore Street in Dublin would look like. Hammerson Hammerson

But Moore Street Preservation Trust oppose the plans over its concerns that the site would be ‘destroyed and demolished’. Organisers have now launched a legal bid to have the renovations blocked after calls for the State to intervene fell of deaf ears.

Speaking to a rally on Moore Street this afternoon, the great-grandson of James Connolly, James Connolly Heron, announced the judicial review. 

“The Hammerson plan would demolish much of the 1916 battlefield site, including buildings occupied by the Volunteers at the end of Easter Week,” Connolly Heron said.

“The area would be turned into a building site for up to 15 years to construct unwanted and unnecessary retail and office developments.”

He added that their legal action would not be necessary if Minister for Housing, Heritage and Local Government Darragh O’Brien intervened and called on him to refuse the planning under the national monument regulations.

“Moore Street campaigners, with widespread public support at home and abroad, have up to now saved this historic site from destruction. That support will be needed more than ever now in the latest phase of our campaign,” he told the crowd.

The event was attended by many local campaigners and activists who also opposing the planning.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has also attended the event and today addressed the crowd, voicing support for the decision to overturn the planning permission. She has previously launched her own legal bid to block the planning approval.