Mary Lou McDonald called the Government's redevelopment plans for the GPO a "betrayal of history", emphasizing that she does not want a shopping centre on sacred revolutionary ground.
Micheal Manning's execution on April 20, 1954, marked the end of capital punishment in the Republic of Ireland, making him the last person executed in the country.
The monks did not know if the books, which included religious scriptures, linguistic analysis, scribbled jokes and a collection of tomes described as the internet of the ancient world, would survive, or ever return.