{"id":539982,"date":"2026-07-08T22:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/539982\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T22:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:33:08","slug":"make-it-a-beautiful-day-td-appeals-to-taoiseach-to-prevent-demolition-of-u2-school-hall-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/539982\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Make it a beautiful day\u2019: TD appeals to Taoiseach to prevent demolition of U2 school hall \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Independent TD Barry Heneghan<\/a> quoted U2<\/a> lyrics as part of an attempt to win Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin<\/a>\u2019s support for a campaign to pause demolition of the school hall where the rock band first performed.<\/p>\n

He appealed to the Taoiseach to intervene to stop the demolition at U2\u2019s alma mater Mount Temple Comprehensive School on Dublin\u2019s northside \u201cuntil an independent feasibility study or meaningful consultation is carried out\u201d.<\/p>\n

This should be done \u201cbefore an irreversible decision is made regarding the hall where U2 performed\u201d.<\/p>\n

Describing the school as \u201cone of Ireland\u2019s greatest success stories\u201d, he said its arts and performance hall is facing demolition as part of redevelopment. <\/p>\n

\u201cNobody opposes development of the school building or hall\u201d, but the concern is \u201cwhether the hall can be retained for refurbishment or adapted for reuse\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Parents and former pupils have begun a campaign to halt the demolition while the independent feasibility study is carried out and had asked him to raise the issue, he said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0U2 release new single Street of DreamsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cFor decades, the hall has given young people a stage to perform, build confidence and discover talent that cannot always be measured in the exam hall,\u201d Heneghan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will happen with or without you, Taoiseach,\u201d he added, quoting one of the band\u2019s songs. \u201cWill you intervene and make it a beautiful day for the next generation of musicians,\u201d he asked, mentioning another.<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach smiled in response but rather than quote U2 he praised them for their \u201crecent philanthropic contribution to Music Generation, which is one of the great legacies of U2\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said this \u201cbrought music to many children the length and breadth of the country who would not otherwise have had that experience\u201d with funding matched by the Government.<\/p>\n

Martin referred to a dinner last month to announced a new investment of \u20ac20 million by U2, the Government and the Ireland Funds to the Music Generation Programme.<\/p>\n

U2 and the Ireland Funds are each providing \u20ac5 million with \u20ac10 million by Government in the programme first introduced in 2010 to support disadvantaged young people aged 13 and over.<\/p>\n

Describing U2\u2019s legacy as \u201cphenomenal\u201d, he said it had brought worldwide attention to Ireland and Irish music and culture. <\/p>\n

He was unaware of the specifics about the school hall and whether the school board of management was building a new hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps whatever new facility is being created can in some way, capture the magic that led to the emergence of U2 in the first instance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Independent TD Barry Heneghan quoted U2 lyrics as part of an attempt to win Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin\u2019s support…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[45658,615,93,61,60,1843,660],"class_list":["post-539982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-barry-heneghan","tag-dublin","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-micheal-martin","tag-u2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=539982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/539982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=539982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=539982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=539982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}