The original James Gandon drawing of the proposed city still exists. Although a vast sum of money (£50,000) was allocated to the project, the colony quickly collapsed when the Genevans insisted that they should be represented in the Irish Parliament and govern themselves under their own Genevan-style laws. The project was abandoned when this proposal could not be agreed upon and the site was eventually taken over by the government who began to transform the settlement into a military base. Barracks were built to house companies of militia newly raised following the outbreak of war between revolutionary France and Britain in 1793. The militia's purpose was to complement the regular forces stationed across the estuary in County Wexford at Duncannon Fort and to protect nearby Passage East in the event of French invasion. The outbreak of the United Irish rebellion in May 1798 achieved its greatest success in County Wexford and for a time County Waterford was threatened. However, the rebel defeat at New Ross on 5 June prevented the break-out of Wexford rebels and discouraged Waterford rebels from taking to the field. The barracks then became a temporary holding centre for rebels and never held less than 1,000 prisoners by the summer of 1798. The prison at Geneva Barracks quickly became notorious for its atrocious conditions and ill treatment of prisoners. P.M. Egan describes Geneva and the story related by Mary Muldoon in his 1895 book "Guide to Waterford":  Most prisoners held who were not sentenced to death and executed were transported to Australia or pressed into the Royal Navy. However, emissaries of the King of Prussia were first allowed to select the fittest men from among the prisoners to serve in his armed forces in part payment for services rendered by his Hessians in suppressing the rebellion. Thomas Cloney, one of the rebel leaders at the battles of Three Rocks, New Ross and Foulksmills, endured confinement at New Geneva while under sentence of death which was later commuted to exile by General Lord Cornwallis. He claimed that the scars of the manacles put on him during his time in New Geneva were visible decades later. The barracks gradually fell into disuse in the years following the end of the Napoleonic Wars and were finally closed in 1824. Today only the outer walls and some partially buried remains give note to the impressive size of the Genevan buildings.