that the majority of masonic lodges in the British Army, wherever they came from, were warranted under the Irish Constitution. The form of masonry that the British Army spread in the colonies was predominantly Irish. It was an English regiment with an Irish warrant that started the lodge from which Prince Hall Freemasonry sprang. In England, it was Irish Freemasons who set up a rival to the Premier Grand Lodge of England, in the form of the Grand Lodge of England which we now call the Antients. The Grand Secretary of the Antients, Laurence Dermott, based his regulations on Spratt's Irish constitutions. It was the Antients' ritual form that prevailed when the two rival English Grand Lodges joined in 1813. The early nineteenth century brought a series of setbacks for the Grand Lodge of Ireland. A dispute over the higher degrees led to a breakaway Grand Lodge of Ulster, operating from 1805 for nine years. The Irish Famine of 1823 caused unrest, in which some lodges became centres of Republican activity, and Irish Freemasonry was briefly proscribed by the Government until 1825. In 1826, the Papal condemnation Quo Graviora, although only the latest of a series of anti-masonic measures by the Church, was the first to be rigidly enforced by the Irish clergy. Many Catholic Freemasons were threatened with excommunication, and resigned as a result. During the 18th century, individual Lodges had met at inns, taverns and coffee houses, while the meetings of the Grand Lodge generally took place in civic and guild buildings. During the early 19th century Grand Lodge began leasing buildings as semi-permanent Masonic facilities, for example, the Grand Lodge for a time held residence at No. 19, Dawson Street in Dublin which is the current home of the Royal Irish Academy. From Dawson Street, the Grand Lodge moved to Commercial Buildings on Dame Street until Grand Lodge along with most Metropolitan Lodges moved to a new, purpose-built facility on Molesworth Street. In 1869 the current, purpose-built headquarters of Irish Freemasonry, Freemasons' Hall on Molesworth Street, opened, housing dramatically decorated Lodge rooms, a library, museum, offices and dining areas. In 2000 the Grand Lodge counted more than 700 centres and 33,000 Irish affiliated members, besides to other 150 lodges distributed abroad the island. On 31 December 2021 a fire was reported in the Masonic Lodge on Molesworth Street. The incident happened at 17:20 and the fire was