Plan for Independence Trail in Dublin

Plans for an “Independence Trail” for visitors to Dublin, based on sites associated with the capital's 1916 Rising, have been announced by Irish tourism minister Leo Varadkar.

The minister, who was inspired by Boston’s “Freedom Trail” of locations from the American revolution, has commissioned the National Tourism Development Authority to draw up plans for an Independence Trail in the Irish capital.

The proposal is understood to comprise battle-sites and monuments associated with the Easter Rising, an insurrection mounted by Irish republicans with the dual aim of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing a republic.

Many of the locations that played key roles in the events of 1916 are well-known landmarks today, and include O’Connell Street’s bullet-scarred General Post Office (GPO), Moore St, Boland’s Mill, Mount St Bridge, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin Castle and Kilmainham Gaol.

In addition to Easter Rising sites, Varadkar's plans would involve locations linked to other uprisings such as the rebellions of 1798 and 1803. The tourism board is to study the feasibility of an app to guide visitors along the trail, and there are plans for pictorial tour maps and Independence Trail signposts.

The initiative would form part of a €4 million project currently being designed to tell Dublin’s story from its Viking origins up to more modern times.