Heritage Sites
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-16
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Aengus Ó Snodaigh (SF), Dublin South-Central

I am here to support Deputy Devine's call.
Her uncle was one of those who was involved directly in the restoration project, a huge undertaking by a voluntary committee which did what the State had promised to do from the thirties, forties and fifties. They said that they would do it at no cost to the State. A group of men mainly - there are women in some of photographs - helped to clear the prison which had been abandoned from 1929 onwards despite requests in the thirties for it to be handed over to be a museum or a memorial of prisons and a memorial of the patriotic struggle. It was agreed even though not every party at the time agreed with it. The Labour Party in particular in the fifties thought this was a madcap scheme. We know now that it was not. It is one of the most, if not the most, sought-after tourist attractions. Those men in the early 1960s and before had a vision that people would come to look at this and would respect our history. It is not just the history of the patriotic struggle; it is the history of imprisonment. That can be seen in the way it was used as a film location because it is reflective of prisons of an era.
There were a lot of hangings there, including hangings of women. There were executions of republican soldiers by the British but also by the new State. They are remembered in the museum that is attached to it now. Anybody who has gone on a tour appreciates the work done. The problem at the moment is that the OPW does not seem to appreciate that when it was handed over to it in 1986 it agreed there would be a board of visitors which would be reflective of the families who did this restoration. That was one of the conditions.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-16