04-05-2025
Call for GPO to be redeveloped into national veterans centre
A charity which helps Irish veterans is calling for the GPO to be redeveloped into a national veterans centre.
Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann (ONE) said the proposed reimagining of the iconic building provides an opportunity to honour and assist the more than 100,000 veterans on the island of Ireland.
Last year a group tasked with finding ways to improve Dublin city centre recommended that the GPO be redeveloped as a major public building with a greater public function. It is one of a number of recommendations to revitalise O'Connell Street contained in the report of the Dublin City Centre Taskforce.
Historian at UCD, Mary McAuliffe said the GPO building stands as a powerful symbol of Ireland's struggle for independence as it served as headquarters of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising and where the Proclamation of the Irish Republic was first read.
"It was the Irish volunteers and Cumann na mBan who fought in here in 1916, who then become the Republicans who then fight during the war of independence - split in the Civil War - but a lot of them go into the national army which is the precursor of today's Irish army," she said.
Cormac Kirwan, CEO of Óglaigh Náisiúnta na hÉireann said the building resonates hugely within the veteran community. He said establishing a Veterans Centre in the heart of Dublin would serve both a practical and symbolic purpose, and could raise awareness about issues veterans face.
ONE is the only charity providing housing and mental health support for Irish Defence Forces veterans. It has four residential homes in Athlone, Cobh, Dublin, and Letterkenny which, it says, helps address the increasing challenge of homelessness among veterans.
"There is approximately 1% that are struggling due to a variety of different reasons. Reasons that would be associated with service at home and abroad but also reasons you'd have within a normal community.
One stop shop
"What we're really advocating for is that a National Veterans Support Bureau would be the one stop shop - the central hub where the information would come down from the Office of Veterans Affairs and then be disseminated out.
"But it would also be an opportunity for veterans within the Dublin region or veterans that need to get advice in certain areas, that they could come in here and get appropriate advice on whatever area they need."
The GPO is soon to be managed by the Office of Public Works after An Post moved its HQ elsewhere. The minster responsible, Kevin Boxer Moran said he would be happy to discuss ideas with ONE as no decision has been made on what the building could be used for.
Ms McAuliffe said the GPO could accommodate a National Veterans Centre and more.
"I think we also need to keep the exhibition of 1916 because it is a destination site for so many people... celebrating our revolutionary history. This is a huge site," she said.
