The wrong Easter Rising buildings are being preserved on Moore St, according to witness statements in a controversial new book.

Testimonies from two volunteers cast doubt over the preservation of No 16 Moore Street - a poultry shop where Padraig Pearse, James Connolly, Joseph Mary Plunkett, Sean Mac Dermott and others supposedly retreated to after they abandoned the GPO.

Elizabeth O'Farrell, a nurse who helped wounded rebels, places the leaders at No 16 in her account given to the Catholic Bulletin newspaper in March 1917 - a report widely accepted throughout history.

But historian Ann Matthews, who has written extensively on the period, suggests that the leaders were probably several houses away.

In an interview with the Sunday Independent, Dr Matthews said: "Until now, everyone has focused on Elizabeth O'Farrell, who said she came out of 16 Moore Street, but as soon as I read through other witness statements, I discovered memories that are different to hers."

In The Irish Citizen Army, the author places the memories of Ms O'Farrell, who emerged from No 16 with a white flag marking the surrender of the rebels, alongside contradicting eye witness testimonies from volunteers Liam Tannam and Oscar Traynor.

"Their accounts are completely at odds with Elizabeth O'Farrell, so we cannot say definitely that they were based in No 16," said Dr Matthews, who added that Ms O'Farrell gave no account of what it felt like inside the building.

"Elizabeth O' Farrell mentions the number 16 but she doesn't say 'I was in Plunkett's' . . . she gave her memories to a reporter who then hyped them up."

Dr Matthews said she did not purposely set out to make the discoveries.

"It's not a theory, what I'm looking at is factual evidence, when these guys write about their memories, you can hear their voice, it's authentic," she added.

"The men give very vivid accounts of their experiences as they left the GPO and bore their way up the street . . . they both remember the smell of fish and describe the building they were in."

According to Tannam's statement, James Connolly was lying on a stretcher in the room on Moore Street. Other leaders, including Plunkett, MacDermott, Willie Pearse and others were there. In Tannam's account this was either about Kelly's fish shop at 24/25 Moore Street or the house next door. Traynor, in his account, says they were above Hanlon's fish shop at 20/21 Moore Street.

However, James Connolly's grandson, John Connolly, disputed the findings.

Mr Connolly, who campaigned for the preservation of the Moore Street buildings, told the Sunday Independent: "All the historical evidence clearly points to numbers 14-17 and especially No 16 as the door that nurse O'Farrell stepped out of.

"I can't believe there are 10 people in Ireland who don't believe that No 16 was the final headquarters of the provisional government," he added.

As one of the few people in Ireland whose father and grandfather both fought in the GPO, Mr Connolly said that for him, No 16 will always be the last meeting place.

In Traynor's account, he specifically recollects being told to "report to Commandant Pearse at Hanlon's fish shop" and both men specifically remember the strong smell of fish in the building.

Responding to this finding, Mr Connolly said: "The smell of fish carries a long way, I mean you could smell a fish shop 100 yards down the road, especially on Moore St."

Although at the time, number 20/21 and 24/25 were the only Moore Street fish shops listed in Thoms Directory, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht claims otherwise.

In a statement the department said: "While listed as a poulterer, No 16 is described by Seamus Scully [a lifelong resident of Moore Street and partial witness to the events of the 1916 Rising] as a fish and poultry shop."

Leading academic and author Professor Charles Townshend of International History Emeritus, Keele University in the UK, also questioned the location of the Moore St base in his book Easter 1916.

After reading all the relevant Bureau of Military History witness statements, Professor Townshend said he was "struck by the fact that only two of the combatants - Traynor and Tannam - identified a particular shop by name as the last location of HQ and neither of them put it in No 16".

The author, who found two non-combatants that identified No 16 said: "There seems no doubt that Elizabeth O'Farrell's unflinching belief in No 16 was the key piece of evidence in establishing the folk memory."

John Conway, Secretary of the Save No 16 Moore Street Committee - a campaign to have part of Moore Street turned into a museum for the centenary in 2016 - admits they made "a judgement call" on protecting numbers 14-17, adjoining houses the rebels also smashed their way though.

"It may be the wrong building but it's certainly not the wrong street and there is no point saving buildings of which there is nothing left . . . and besides maybe Ms O'Farrell was right".

Sunday Independent