Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday at approximately 6 a.m. a house of very significant historical importance in my constituency was bulldozed to the ground. The house to which I refer is No. 40 Herbert Park in Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. The house is of significant historical importance because Michael The O'Rahilly, his wife Nancy and their six children lived there. People aware of Irish history will know that The O'Rahilly was one of the significant leaders of the 1916 Rising. In fact, he was the only leader of the Rising to be killed in battle. He died coming from the GPO heading towards a factory on what is now Parnell Street.

The act of bulldozing the building was completely against the historical interests of the people of Dublin and Ireland. Members of Dublin City Council had commenced a process to see whether this building could be put on the protected structures list kept by the council. That process had commenced but the building had not yet been put on said list. The council and councillors were in the process of conducting an appraisal of the building to see whether it merited inclusion on the list of protected structures. This was a building of such significant historical importance that it would have been added to the list. The reason it is of such historical importance is not simply because it was the house in which The O'Rahilly and his family lived but also because some of the most significant meetings leading up to the Easter Rising took place there. This was the house in which people such as Éamon de Valera, Pádraig Pearse and James Connolly met The O'Rahilly for the purpose of planning the rising which took place in Easter 1916. It is hugely regrettable that this demolition has happened. I ask the Minister of State to outline the Government's proposals to ensure that buildings such as this, which exist throughout the country, are protected because of their historical importance.

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