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Sybil Connolly Pictured above is Sybil Connolly with one of her designs. Conversation with Designers Sybil Connolly Pictured above is Sybil Connolly with one of her designs. Conversation with Designers

Culture

Plans announced for Limerick Lace and Sybil Connolly Collections permanent home

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Plans announced for Limerick Lace and Sybil Connolly Collections permanent home at former Mary Street Garda Station project

Plans have been announced to convert the former Mary Street Garda Station into a permanent home for the Limerick Lace and Sybil Connolly Collection

Mary Street garda station has been largely closed over a decade. Picture: Adrian Butler/Limerick Leader
Mary Street garda station has been largely closed over a decade. Picture: Adrian Butler/Limerick Leader

The iconic Limerick Lace and Sybil Connolly Collections are set to receive a permanent home with plans to convert the former Mary Street Garda Station into a new Limerick Museum of Fashion.

Currently on temporary and occasional display in Limerick Museum and the Hunt Gallery, the collections will receive a permanent home at the converted space at the King’s Island site. The structure will also house a ‘fashion incubator’, giving Limerick and the region’s brightest fashion design talent a new space for collaboration to develop their businesses and showcase their creations.

Mayor of Limerick, John Moran, earmarked the abandoned Garda barracks site for a fashion incubator last year, and since then, work has begun to make the site safe after years of vacancy.


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Much of the existing structure – the upper floors – will have to be removed as part of the plan to transform the site to a modern building suitable for a world-class museum and business incubator but will be rebuilt recognising the building’s status as a protected structure.

Limerick lace part of City's social fabric
The iconic Limerick Lace and Sybil Connolly Collections are set to receive a permanent home

This month it was announced a high-powered Steering Committee was created to help drive the project, including leading academics; the directors of the Limerick Museum and the Hunt Gallery; a specialist in Limerick Lace; one of Ireland’s most successful models and fashion industry executives; and the director of the fashion incubator in Limerick’s twin-city of Austin, Texas.

Mayor of Limerick, John Moran said the project hopes to “celebrate” Limerick’s fashion culture and “champion our fashion talent and create real opportunity”.

He said, “Giving permanent homes to Limerick Lace and the Sybil Connolly Collection will honour our creative legacy, as well as setting the stage for a vibrant future.

“This is also another key project that feeds into our broader desire to provide better amenities and public realm, better serving all the community across King’s Island. This is a real opportunity for us to stitch another thread into the fabric a modern, confident and thriving Limerick city centre.”

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