Taoiseach & Minister Ó Cuív
Challenged on Pearse Centre
Conamara County Councillor and Údarás na Gaeltachta member, Seosamh Ó Cuaig has issued a statement criticising both
the Taoiseach and Minister Éamon Ó Cuív over the govemment's rescinding of a decision to build an interpretative centre at Pearse's cottage in Ros Mue, Conamara while at the same time engaging in a huge parade to commemorate the Easter "Rising.
"Just before the last general election in a fanfare of publicity, Minister Ó Cuív presented the project as part of the National Development Plan and explained how Minister Síle de Valera had provided €l.2 million for it to be built. Indeed, the Fianna Fáil minister went as far as to announce 2004 as its completion date", said Ó Cuaig.
However, according to Councillor Seosamh Ó Cuaig "the only thing to happen in 2004 in relation to this centre was the announcement - not by Minister Ó Cuiv - that government funding had been withdrawn. It is high time the Taoiseach and Minister Ó Cuív put an end to the inter-departmental bungling which is holding up the building of this centre. Especially, as the Board of Údarás Na
Gaeltachta allocated a considerable time ago €lm towards the cost of the building."
In a recent interview on Raidió na Gaeltachta Minister Ó Cuív stated that it is the responsibility of Minister Dick Roche and the Department of the Environment to provide the money now. "If it was within the remit of my Department it would be done," he said. "Minister Síle de Valera was four-square behind the project," said Minister Ó
Cuív. "With her background she would have understood the historucal significance of a centre at Pearses cottage." Minister Ó Cuív then went on to explain that there had been ministerial changes since the official announcement and that "other priorities" had come to the fore.
Councillior Ó Cuaig says he cannot understand why the Taoiseach and Minister Ó Cuív cannot sort the problem out. "After all, Minister Ó Cuív is at the cabinet table, Údarás na Gaeltachta's share of the money is still available and the Taoiseach makes great play of having a picture of Padráig (sic) Pearse in his office.
So how can these two men stand over the dropping of this worthwhule and practical remembrance of Pearse from a National Development Plan?"
Seosamh Ó Cuaig during a reading in Pearse's Cottage, Easter 2003
Glór Chonamara 27/4/2006
An scéal i Lá, Foinse agus eile
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Protest at Pearse Cottage over interpretive centre promise
PEARSE Cottage in Rusmuc was a hive of activity on Easter Monday when two groups gathered there to remember the 1916 Rising and to highlight a delay in building an
interpretative centre nearby. Coiste Chuimneach á in an Phiarsaigh is the local committee responsible for remembering Pádraig Pearse's life and times in his summer
hideaway in the Connemara Gaeltacht but as well as celebrating the Rising, their mission on Monday was to protest at the failure of the Government to provide the
interpretative centre which was announced as far back as March 2004. The other group was Sinn Fé in, who marched to Pearse's Cottage, where Councillor Daniel
Callinan laid a wreath, where Paula Ní Chionnaith read the Proclamation of Independence 'as Gaeilge' and the party spokesman in Connemara, Colm Ó Ceannabh á in
addressed the gathering saying their TDs would be raising the interpretative centre issue in the Dáil.
 Seven of the local commemmorative committee members carried a picture of the seven signatories as they stood at the gable of the cottage beside a banner which read
'Cá bhfuil an t-Ionad' (where is the centre?). The Office of Public Works picked one of three suitable sites for the proposed Interpretative Centre, which
Councillor Seosamh Ó Cuaig (Ind), a member of the committee, said was in a hollow which would ensure that the new building would not be intrusive and not
overshadow the traditional cottage.
"The groups gathered simultaenously at the cottage at mid-day to commemmorate the 1916 Easter Rising and we are both in agreement that some action has to be taken
on a promise made by Minister Ó Cuív four years ago. He said recently that the Centre would be built before the next commemmoration but we need a more specific
time-line and we are going to continue with out campaign," he added.
Cúradh Chonnachtach 21/4/2006
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