First stones laid for Galway mosque

FOUNDATION stones for Galway’s first purpose-built mosque have been laid by international and national leaders of the Amhadiyya Muslim community.

The Masjid Maryum (Mary Mosque) will be open to “all worshippers of all faiths” when it is built in Ballybrit, the Irish Ahmadiyya Muslim chapter said last night.

Muslims are now the third largest faith grouping in the Republic, mainly Sunnis, and there are about 3,000 Muslims in Galway. Ahmadi worshippers are in the minority, but share good relations with fellow Muslims, Imran Ahmed Sheikh said.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/0918/1224279173021.html

Local residents force closure of unofficial mosque

A mosque operating from a house in Lucan, Co Dublin, has been forced to close following complaints by local residents and the intervention of a local TD and a minister of state.

The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) has for the past six years operated a prayer centre at a detached house in Liffey Road, at the edge of a residential estate. It has now been closed after officials from South Dublin county council discovered that it had no planning permission, following a tip-off from residents.

Relations between locals and those using the mosque have deteriorated in recent months, with the residents’ association claiming that some of its members were verbally abused and one assaulted after complaining about illegal parking outside the mosque.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article6446104.ece

Mosque dream a step closer after donation

The Muslim community in Cork is one step closer to having a mosque following years of fundraising and an anonymous donation of €800,000.

The Cork Muslim Society was established in 1984 and 10 years later a house was bought in Cork city to be used as a Mosque and Islamic Centre.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/mosque-dream-a-step-closer-after-donation-1749796.html

Dublin gets a new mosque

AN BORD Pleanála has granted permission for the conversion of the three upper floors of two buildings on Talbot Street, in Dublin city centre, into a mosque, despite objections from local businesses to the development.

The Anwar-E-Madina mosque is the first inner-city mosque and the first to be located on Dublin's northside, according to worshippers. It opened last Thursday, after receipt of permission from the planning board, but it will not be permitted to broadcast prayers.

Dublin City Council had granted permission for the mosque last December. However, the decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanála by neighbouring business people who said the area, a busy commercial street, was not suitable for a mosque.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0721/1216565492838.html