Dublin City Council has drawn up a shortlist of names for the new transport bridge over the river Liffey at Marlborough Street, Dublin. From a total of 85 nominations the Dublin City Council's Commemorative Naming Committee shortlisted 17 at a meeting earlier this month.As well as trade union leader James Connolly the list includes Tony Gregory, Lady Gregory, the Abbey Theatre Bridge, the Returned Home Bridge, Bram Stoker, Strumpet City author James Plunkett, ITGWU activist Rosie Hackett, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift and WB Yeats.Also on the short-list are physicist Ernest Walton, Legion of Mary founder Frank Duff, Dublin camogie player Kay Mills, the founder of the Alone organization for the elderly Willie Bermingham and Dr George Sigerson, after whom the GAA Sigerson cup is named.Public support for the James Connolly Memorial Bridge proposal is growing. The 1913 Lockout and 1916 Rising leader’s name among the top three in a poll of readers on the news site Journal.ie.Among the many public figures supporting the campaign are singers Imelda May, Christy Moore, Andy Irvine, Mary Black and Frances Black; actors Bryan Murray, Gabriel Byrne and Jer O’Leary; comedians Brendan Grace and Brendan O’Carroll; poets Theo Dorgan and Paula Meehan, artist Robert Ballagh, Dublin GAA star Alan Brogan and author Irvine Welsh.Bryan Murray said: “Naming the bridge in honour of Connolly would be a fitting reminder of a man who championed the cause of working people in Dublin and gave voice to their hopes and dreams.”Along with the 85 official nominations received, Dublin City Council received nearly 10,000 supporting submissions, including emails, direct correspondence and petitions.Dublin City Council said it was very grateful for the public’s “enthusiastic response “to the advertisement seeking nominations for the naming of the new bridge over the Liffey.”The shortlisted names will be reviewed at the Commemorative Naming Committee 's next meeting on 12th June. The committee aims to have a decision on the naming of the bridge in autumn 2013. The bridge is scheduled to be completed late this year.
James Connolly in shortlist for name of new Liffey Bridge
