The Great Fenian Escape | Moore St Trust Calls on the State to buy Moore St Terrace | Ard Fheis 2026

The 1916 Easter Rising's final headquarters—16 Moore Street in Dublin—remains under private ownership nearly 110 years after the rebellion, despite repeated calls from Sinn Féin, Dublin City Council, and the Moore Street Preservation Trust to purchase the terrace for public ownership. Gerry Adams, in a reflective and urgent episode of Léargas, frames this as a national failure: a historic battlefield site, the last known location where the seven signatories of the 1916 Proclamation met, has been allowed to decay while the state hesitates. He draws a powerful parallel to the 1876 Catalpa rescue, where American and Irish activists liberated Fenian prisoners from colonial Australia using a whaling ship, and argues that the same spirit of collective action is needed today. The Catalpa flag, recently displayed briefly in the National Museum, symbolizes a legacy of resistance that should be permanently honored. Adams also reflects on the enduring importance of Sinn Féin’s Ard Fheis, now a democratic powerhouse with national influence, while underscoring the urgent need to protect Ireland’s revolutionary heritage—not just for memory, but as a living, regenerative cultural and economic hub for Dublin’s inner city.