Gardaí have raided a cannabis “grow house” in a building that formed part of the 1916 battlefield site on Dublin’s Moore Street.

Cannabis plants worth an estimated €12,000 were found last week during searches at 22 and 23 Moore Street as part of an operation into the sale and supply of drugs. The plants were discovered in what gardaí described as a “grow house on the premises” and a man in his 40s was arrested. He was later released and a file is to be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The buildings are owned by UK property company Hammerson which plans to develop an office, hotel and residential scheme on a six-acre site from O’Connell Street to Moore Street.

The building, which currently has a number of uses including a gym and mixed martial arts centre as well as an Asian supermarket and money transfer facility, is part of terrace known as the 1916 battlefield site.

The High Court in 2016 declared the terrace, including numbers 22 and 23, a national monument. However, the State appealed the ruling with the result that only 14-17 Moore Street, where the 1916 leaders met and decided to surrender, are now designated as such.

Demolished

The building, where the grow house was discovered, was built in the 1960s and will be demolished as part of Hammerson’s plan.

A spokesman for the company said “as the Garda processes are still on-going it is not possible to comment at this time”.

Serious neglect and decay of the historic markets and the buildings connected to the 1916 Rising were identified in a recent report of the Government-appointed Moore Street Advisory Group. It found increasing problems with drug dealing, violence and other crime on the street.

Stall holders and shop owners on the street have for many years been seeking a stronger Garda presence there and for better lighting to be installed by Dublin City Council.