23rd May 2003

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Lissadell House should be in state ownership

Commenting  on  the  news  that the birthplace of Countess Constance Markiewicz, Lissadell  House,  is  to  be sold, Arthur Morgan T.D. Sinn Fein spokesperson on Heritage  called  on  the  Government to preserve Lissadell as a monument to the heroine of the 1916 Rising.

Deputy Morgan said

``The  State  preserves  Avondale  House  in Co. Wicklow as a memorial to Charles Stewart Parnell and Carhan House in Co. Kerry as a memorial to Daniel O'Connell. issadell  House, which played an important role in Irish political and literary history, should be preserved as a memorial to Countess Markiewicz.

``Everywhere  there  are  memorials to the men of Irish history, whether you walkdown  O'Connell Street or through the corridors of the Houses of the Oireachtas. Women's  role has been written out of Irish history: to preserve Lissadell Houseas a monument to Countess Markiewicz is the very least that this state can do to remember  one  of  the most important female figures in Irish History and as thefirst woman cabinet minister in Europe, an important figure in European history.

The Sinn Fein T.D. concluded by saying:

``Sinn  Fein  believes  that  it is time for the state to examine the options forre-appropriating hereditary estates which are a legacy of our colonial past  and have no place in a modern Ireland.'' 

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