Plans for a Troubles archive/museum/gallery as part of the ambitious rebirth of the St Comgall's School project in West Belfast have been logjammed somewhere in government for a while now though I'm confident the Falls Community Council promoters will realise their dream of a new flagship centre.
In the meantime, I remain convinced of the need to incorporate a 'peace gallery' as part of the new Beechmount campus proposals being spearheaded by the Irish language community. Dedicated to the visual arts, this gallery would show off important pieces of art related to the Northern conflict.
There's been some doubt about whether such a project can succeed outside the city centre of Belfast but a new gallery in Mayo, the Jackie Clarke Collection shows that nothing is impossible.
Billed as Ireland's Newest National Treasure, the collection was bequeathed to Mayo County Council by Jackie Clarke, a great patriot and republican from the county. Curator Sinéad McCoole is to deliver a talk on the collection in New York next weekend at the American Irish Historicial Society premises on Fifth Avenue.
Spanning 400 years, the Jackie Clarke collection contains many priceless pieces, including its first item dating from 1617: a letter from 'William Sarsfield of the City of Corke' conferring lands on the Penn family. William Penn spent time living on his family estate in Ireland before going to America and becoming the founder of Pennsylvania.
The 1916 material in the collection is "outstanding", says McCoole.
Off the record, I'm told the deal was the Council would get the collection if they acquired a gallery to show it off. As a result, the council bought a landmark building, the former Provincial Bank on the main street of Ballina. The building was an early design by Thomas Manly Deane who was later the architect of some of Ireland's finest buildings including the National Library and National Museum.
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