The Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland (ICCI) is an Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic
complex, including a mosque, in Clonskeagh

Clonskeagh

Clonskeagh or Clonskea , is a southern suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district straddles the River Dodder.-Location and access:Whilst located fully within the traditional County Dublin, Clonskeagh lies partially within the administrative area of Dublin City Council but mostly in that of Dun...

, Dublin, Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. It is funded by the al-Maktoum Foundation of Dubai

Dubai

Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...

 and has a Sunni orientation.

Formation

In 1992 Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum is the Deputy Ruler of Dubai and the Minister of Finance and Industry of the United Arab Emirates . He is the second son of the late ruler, Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum ....

, Deputy Governor of Dubai and Minister of Finance and Industry in the United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

, agreed to finance a piece of land including a building to house a school and later on agreed to sponsor the construction of an Islamic Centre on the same site. At the time, 4,000 Muslims lived in Ireland.
Construction of the CCI began in 1994 and it was officially opened on November 16th 1996 by President Mary Robinson

Mary Robinson

Mary Therese Winifred Robinson served as the seventh, and first female, President of Ireland from 1990 to 1997, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, from 1997 to 2002. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister, campaigner and member of the Irish Senate...

 and Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum. It is located next to University College Dublin

University College Dublin

University College Dublin ) - formally known as University College Dublin - National University of Ireland, Dublin is the Republic of Ireland's largest, and Ireland's second largest, university, with over 1,300 faculty and 17,000 students...

. The mosque and cultural centre include a main prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

 hall, a restaurant, a library, meeting rooms, laundry facilities, ten apartments, administrative offices and recently a shop. A primary school is also located on the premises.

The ICCI was designed by the Irish architect firm, Michael Collins & Associates. The layout is based on a square divided into nine smaller squares, with the mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

 placed in the centre. The building is a steel frame structure with brick infill and is detailed with stainless steel.

Organisations and Activities

Executive director of the ICCI is Nooh Al Kaddo, an Iraqi native who moved from Liverpool to Dublin in 1997 to run the Islamic center. The imam of the ICCI is Hussein Halawa, who came to Ireland from Egypt in 1996 and is also chairman of the Irish Council of Imams

Irish Council of Imams

The Irish Council of Imams is an umbrella organization for all Islamic establishments in Ireland. Its formation was announced in a press-release on September 15, 2006. It represents all 35 imams in Ireland, of both the Sunni and Shia denominations...

.

The ICCI hosts the Muslim National School, a state funded primary school, with an Islamic ethos and with over 260 pupils. The religious department is sponsored by the al-Maktoum Foundation.
In February 2008, the ICCI held a Harun Yahya Conference.