Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support the point Deputy Cian O'Callaghan made. About 15 or 20 years ago the house where Tomás Mac Curtain was assassinated by the Black and Tans in Blackpool was demolished over a weekend. That house was protected and was an historic site for the people of Cork. Tomás Mac Curtain was a Lord Mayor of Cork and a very influential figure both in the republican movement and also in Cork. In the middle of the night, he was shot in his home and that was to be kept for the people of Cork as part of our republican heritage. A developer or the owner of the property came in over the weekend and levelled it. With protected buildings and monuments, there is no recourse.

The argument put up at the time was that it was not fit for the purpose of his business. He claimed it was unsafe, but there was no corroborating evidence that the building was unsafe and it was just knocked down. To add insult to injury with regard to MacCurtain Street, which is only around the corner from Blackpool and not far to walk, a group of business people came together to rename it unofficially the "Victorian Quarter". People going onto Google Maps or TripAdvisor will see MacCurtain Street, which is named after a Lord Mayor of Cork, an Irish republican who was murdered by the Black and Tans. How in the name of God can a couple of businessmen with no authorisation from the local authority rename it the Victorian Quarter after the Famine queen?