Dedication of the Kevin Mulgrew Hall in Muirhevnamor Community Centre in Dundalk

The new extension to Muirhevnamor Community Centre was dedicated last week to the late Kevin Mulgrew at an event attended by Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú and former party leader Gerry Adams.

More than 150 people came to the ‘Kevin Mulgrew Hall’, the construction of which had been supported by the European Union’s PEACE IV Programme, managed by the Special European Programmes Body (SEUPB), supported locally by Louth County Council and Louth Local Community Development Committee (LCDC).

Match-funding was provided by the North’s Executive Office and the Department for Rural and Community Development.
Mr Mulgrew, who lived in Finnabair Crescent, died on September 5 2021 after a long battle with cancer.

At the dedication event, speakers, including centre director Jim O’Neill, Tony Hughes, Cllr. Kevin Meenan, Paul McAloon, Marty McDaid and Cllr Declan Murphy, recalled Mr Mulgrew’s dedication to the community in Muirhevnamor and his determination to ensure that facilities were in place to help improve the lives of the people who lived in the area.

^{Above: Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú, Cllr. Kevin Meenan, former TD Gerry Adams and Cllr Pearse McGeough} 

All the speakers referenced Mr Mulgrew’s passions in life – his family first and foremost; the republican struggle and the community in which he lived. He was also a passionate supporter of Dundalk FC.

They said that he had moved from his childhood home in Tyrone to Belfast during tumultuous years in the North, before coming to live in Dundalk in 1990.

Mr Mulgrew’s wife, Rosie, and children Therese, Kevin and Dominic, attended the event, with his wider family and friends. Music was provided by Maxi McIntyre.

Former Louth TD, Gerry Adams, paid tribute to Mr Mulgrew and said the hall would be ‘a fitting tribute to a decent human being’.

Deputy Ó Murchú said he missed Mr Mulgrew, his “friend and mentor”. He said: “Kevin had a social conscience which he had right to the end of his life.

“I owe a huge amount to him and there are times since his death when I have gone to my phone to call him for advice, but then remembered.

“We are very grateful to have shared time with him. He lived a life very, very well and was dedicated to the struggle, his family and his community. He gave his absolute all to those three things and it is beyond a privilege to have known him.”