Dublin’s GPO: The data centre of its day

Stephen O’Malley, our CEO at Civic, has reflected on the important heritage of the GPO in Dublin, following our event there this year. He shares the vital role it has to play as a nerve centre for connection for Ireland:

“In October, we hosted an event in the hallowed halls of the GPO. This opportunity came through my role on the Taoiseach’s Taskforce, itself ignited by the thankfully rare riots of November 2023, a shocking episode that nevertheless forced reflection. Why should something like this happen? Issues around immigration, social value, fairness, and meritocracy shaped the debate.

“There’s no such thing as a purely “native” Irish national. This island has always been a crossroads, from the builders of Newgrange to Norse and Celtic tribes, Viking settlers, and European traders. Centuries of movement and exchange have shaped Ireland’s character and contradictions. When internal rivalries invited English involvement in the 1500s, two identities hardened, with the Catholic Church as a third force. The Penal Laws and Protestant Ascendancy left their mark on Dublin’s Georgian streets. By the 1800s, famine, industrialisation, and migration heightened the absolute need for change, led by Wolfe Tone, O’Connell, and Parnell.

“But it was the Rising of 1916 that changed Irish history. The GPO became both symbol and strategy. We often picture Pádraig Pearse reading the Proclamation, yet what’s less discussed is that the GPO was, in effect, Ireland’s communications hub, connecting the city to the world. By occupying it the rebels seized not only a building but the machinery of communication. Telegraph lines were disrupted, channels silenced, and for a moment the pulse of authority shifted. Militarily, the Rising failed; politically and psychologically, it changed everything, a defibrillating shock that reenergised a nation.

“The neighbourhood hosts institutions that shaped Irish identity: Croke Park, cathedral of Gaelic Games; The Abbey Theatre, birthplace of Yeats, Synge, Lady Gregory, and O’Casey; and Liberty Hall, home of James Connolly’s trade union movement. Many who built these places lived in nearby tenements, enduring hardship but absorbing the ideals around them. The streets still tell the story: O’Connell, Parnell, Wolfe Tone, Cathal Brugha, Seán Mac Diarmada, a geography of nationalism radiating from the GPO, each name marking an era of struggle and progress.

“Dublin 1 remains one of Ireland’s most textured districts, a neighbourhood with charisma, courage, and potential. Yet both city and community need a renewed story: one that honours heritage while embracing renewal, opportunity, and connection.

“The GPO once transmitted messages across the empire. Today, it can again become a nerve centre of connection, linking this historic place to an Irish diaspora of 80 million. Reimagined for the 21st century, it could host a global conversation, not of empire but of enterprise, culture, and shared values.

“As Yeats wrote, “All changed, changed utterly: a terrible beauty is born.” From upheaval can come renewal.”