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The taoiseach: “iconic and historic locations such as this should be preserved or at a minimum incorporated into any new developments” But successive govts have not acted to identify & map these sites so they can be considered in planning. Thread /1 https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/home-of-the-o-rahilly-should-not-have-been-demolished-taoiseach-says-1.4367485
The damage and destruction of revolutionary sites is wholesale around the country. For a small number of them (not many), a public outcry has occurred, but almost always late in the planning process (e.g. Moore St/O'Rahilly home). Very few have any significant protection. /2
Our legislation is extremely limited- we refuse to consider post 1700AD sites archaeologically, making it hard to protect them as historic landscapes. The protected structure mechanism works only in certain circumstances, and is also a limited form or protection. Fundamentally /3
all these sites can't be protected, but in order for appropriate, timely and informed decisions to be made, we have to have a baseline of data to inform the planning process. Currently no such baseline exists for post 1700AD historic sites, and by extension revolutionary sites /4
What this means in practice is that we know very little about most of the buildings and landscapes involved in the revolution. For example, we have no idea of the number or condition of RIC stations that were attacked by IRA forces in what was a key element of the WoI /5
We have, in most instances, no idea of how well conflict landscapes such as ambush sites are preserved, and no knowledge of what elements that survive in them were important- e.g. hedgerows that were used by IRA forces, buildings occupied by volunteers etc. /6
We have no idea of the location or condition of building networks like safe houses, so important during the revolutionary period, in cities like Dublin/Cork, or what condition any of those buildings are in. Without this knowledge, we can't make informed decisions. /7
During the decade of centenaries, this lack of knowledge has led to significant damage and inappropriate develoments at noted sites, such as Kilmichael. This lack of knowledge has also led to incidents like that at the O'Rahilly House. /8
We need to move beyond political platitudes, which tend to recur everytime this happens, and actually see some action taken. This type of damage and destruction was the reason I set up the Landscapes of Revolution Project: https://landscapesofrevolution.wordpress.com/about/ /9
On the About page: "The project was devised in response to an urgent need to identify, analyse, interpret and map the sites and landscapes relating to Ireland’s Revolutionary decade" as they are "difficult to manage and increasingly vulnerable to being damaged and destroyed" /10
I've strongly advocated that the way to address this issue is a major community-led project to identify & map these sites, allowing us to make informed decisions. I would love to finally see some action on this rather than just the usual rhetoric /11 https://landscapesofrevolution.wordpress.com/2018/08/21/resources-how-to-research-the-archaeology-the-threatened-landscapes-of-the-irish-revolution/
The methodology we could adopt for this is on the Landscapes of Revolution site. I think there are wider issues about why we don't look at these sites as historic locations until it is too late, something I published on in Lisa's & Jo's book below. https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/isbn/9781781381229/ /12
Hopefully something proper is finally done on this. It should have been a key aim of the Decade of Centenaries (both for Revolutionary & WW1 sites), but it's something we have completely failed on thus far. If we don't, we can't continue to be shocked at losses that occur. /13
