Northern Ireland

Details of new James Connolly interpretive centre in west Belfast

An artist's impression of how the James Connolly Centre in west Belfast will look
An artist's impression of how the James Connolly Centre in west Belfast will look An artist's impression of how the James Connolly Centre in west Belfast will look

MORE details have been revealed of plans to build a centre in memory of socialist leader James Connolly in west Belfast.

Tourism agency Fáilte Feirste Thiar (Welcome to West Belfast) said the visitor attraction in the city's Gaeltacht Quarter will be sited on the Falls Road close to where Connolly lived.

Connolly was a leading figure in the trade union movement in Ireland as well as a republican icon and lived at Glenalina Terrace in Belfast for several years from 1911.

He was executed in 1916 for his part in the Easter Rising.

A statue of Connolly was unveiled on the Falls Road earlier this year by a great-grandson, James Connolly Heron, who described west Belfast as his "spiritual home".

A three-storey centre in his memory will include an interactive exhibition, study area, library of Connolly's writing and tourist facilities, with a planning application due to be submitted this month.

Born in Edinburgh to Irish parents, Connolly rose to prominence during the Dublin lockout of 1913 as general secretary of Irish Transport and General Workers Union and commander of Irish Citizen Army (ICA), set up to defend workers.

While living in Belfast he helped organise union activity and moved the resolution that established the Irish Labour Party.