The building stands on the site of the Reading Rooms owned by St. Michael’s Roman Catholic Church which was destroyed in the bombing in 1987. The Centre was conceived as part of the Higher Bridges Project, bridging this site with the former Enniskillen Orange Hall.
Plans were laid in 2000 to construct a new structure to balance the restored Orange Hall, a listed building. This was coordinated by Fermanagh-University Partnership Board.[1]
In 2001 President Bill Clinton visited the site, returning again in 2002 to officially open the building and lend his name to it.[2] His most recent visit was in 2004 when he was accompanied by his wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, to witness the work being undertaken within the centre in peace-building projects.[3] The Centre housed a fully equipped conference floor, a restaurant, internet cafe and Art Gallery. Hostelling International Northern Ireland managed The Bridges Youth Hostel within the Clinton Centre until December 2012.[4]
In October 2017, Dublin City University, Ulster University and University of Massachusetts (UMass) came together in a joint initiative to renew and enhance the peace-building vision of the Clinton Centre in Enniskillen. President Clinton announced the initiative during a visit to Belfast. The new agreement will see the three universities unite to create a new, sustainable operational model for the Centre, in keeping with President Clinton’s commitment to peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland. The plan will deliver a programme of both academic and cultural activities and events in the Centre over the next three years.[5]
In 2019 the non-profit organization UISCE (Understanding Ireland Socially, Culturally and Economically) launched a volunteer program to reestablish the purpose of the building,[6] with a view to primarily becoming an educational hub for students and emerging leaders focussing on peace building.[7]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article The_Clinton_Centre, and is written by contributors.
Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.