Sinn Fein TDs Sean Crowe and Aengus O Snodaigh are calling on Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to intervene, preserve and possibly restore Countess Markievicz summer cottage in Ticknock.
The cottage, which is located just off the Blackglen Road, was originally owned by Constance Markievicz and her husband Count Casimir Markievicz and was used as a summer retreat.
The cottage is also historically significant as it was the location for Fianna Eireann (the nationalist youth organisation) activities such as camping and trekking in the Dublin Mountains.
In addition, many of those who took part in the 1916 Easter Rising, including some of the executed leaders, occasionally stayed at the house.
Deputy Crowe and O Snodaigh recently visited the now overgrown and derelict cottage and say that that due to it’s place in Ireland’s revolutionary history, it should be saved and preserved for future generations.
Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Culture, Heritage and Gaeltacht, Deputy O Snodaigh, said:
“Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and local TD, Josepha Madigan, should as part of her role as chair of the Decade of Centenaries Committee show leadership and intervene to ensure the cottage doesn’t deteriorate further.
“The Minister should work with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to save and preserve Markievicz Cottage, as part of local, national, and international history.”
Sean Crowe TD says that the cottage falling into dereliction is part of a wider trend as other historically significant buildings often meet the same fate.
“The state has allowed this cottage, like the Moore Street site – the last headquarters of the 1916 Rebellion, go into disrepair and ruin. In the past no protection was given to the Fianna Eireann headquarters on Camden Street and it was demolished,” he said.
