Just about everyone in Ireland knows what you are referring to when you say "The GPO." Of late, the reference might be followed by a thought: what to do with it?
There is a vigorous debate going on right now over the future of the General Post Office in Dublin's O'Connell Street. The current government has a ten year plan that will see the GPO building, which dates back to 1818, in part repurposed on a commercial basis. This will include office space.
One can only imagine the uproar if the National Park Service turned Independence Hall in Philadelphia into a WeWork space or the like.
And there's an idea. The government could do well to study how iconic historical buildings in other countries are presented to the public in a way that reflects and honors history while providing jobs and generating self-sustaining income.
Belfast would be a good place to start. The city has reinvented itself with its historical quarters, not least the Titanic Quarter.
Promote a name, build a theme and people will come.
The GPO, of course, was the headquarters for the leadership of the 1916 Rising. It was, and is, the birthplace of the modern Irish Republic. It was also the setting for the beginning of the end of the British Empire.
Nothing stands still. Change is a constant and the GPO is no exception. But what to do when there are clearly differing visions for the future of the building and its near surroundings, seen by many as the 1916 Moore Street Battlefield site.
As Diarmaid Ferriter put it in the Irish Times: "What to do with the General Post Office (GPO) site on O’Connell Street has, ever since the 1916 Rising, generated controversy, performative outrage, piety and genuine concern.
"Talk of its commercial development, as seen in recent weeks, inevitably leads to assertions about it being, in the words of politicians in Aontú, 'sacred ground' and the 'heartbeat of our republic.' Sinn Féin has launched a petition to 'save the GPO,' insisting the Government, which is proposing mixed commercial and cultural use of the large complex, has 'turned its face against the preservation of our revolutionary history.'"
Ferriter added: "The preparation of the GPO museum for the centenary of the Rising in 2016, which I participated in, saw An Post insist that as well as being a 'witness to history,' its historic centrality to communications be emphasised.
"The Government wanted themes of inclusivity to be stressed, while there was also a focus on those who inhabited its hinterland. Citizen witnesses, and indeed victims, were also what prompted Patrick Pearse to surrender in 1916, a reminder that the burning GPO did not exist in splendid isolation but at the heart of a living city, and with that came responsibilities to respect both the living and the dead associated with it.
"And that remains the case. Narrowing the debate to one about 'sacred ground' is too restrictive. Given its iconic status, continued commercial function, and centrality to so many causes and communications, surely it is better that respect for its history is combined with a repurposing of the GPO area that would generate pride, and improve the perception of a space widely regarded as deficient and devoid of sufficient imagination for the main thoroughfare of a capital city."
And that's it. The GPO is indeed more than sacred ground, though there is a sacred element to it. It's more than just a single building. It sits at the heart of the Irish capital, a heart that is in need of revitalizing.
The current government has some good ideas. Those who want to secure the historic centrality of the building and its immediate streetscape possess good ideas.
The good ideas need to be joined, blended. That entails a degree of compromise; hopefully a workable degree.
