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heritage · Saturday 10 October 2026 · Various 
Project Children Legacy Events - 50th Anniversary Week
At Monaghan Peace Campus · Plantation Road, Monaghan, Co. Monaghan H18 RP20
At Monaghan Peace Campus · Plantation Road, Monaghan, Co. Monaghan H18 RP20
Monaghan County Council marks 50 years of Project Children with a five-day commemorative programme at the Monaghan Peace Campus from Saturday, 10 October to Wednesday, 14 October 2026. Project Children was founded in 1975 by NYPD officer Denis Mulcahy and his brother Pat, bringing over 23,000 Catholic and Protestant children out of the Troubles for six-week summer stays with host families in the United States. The programme brings together participants, families and supporters from Ireland, Northern Ireland and the US to mark that legacy on the campus that is now home to Project Children’s archive.
Saturday, 10 October opens the week with a showcase of cultural performances, a fusion of Ulster Scots and Gaelic music and dance, alongside youth-led creative work and digital heritage displays; a colour guard parade forms up at 4:30pm ahead of a 5pm parade, with an exhibition opening that evening. Through the week the Peace Campus screens “How to Defuse a Bomb: The Project Children Story,” the Des Henderson documentary narrated by Liam Neeson with a contribution from Bill Clinton, which tells the charity’s story through interviews and archive footage. The week also includes a hike of the Sliabh Beagh and Bragan mountains and a tour of south Monaghan and Kavanagh Country, and closes with the official launch, on Tuesday, 13 October, of a new Project Children book by author Jane Buckley, gathering participants’ accounts from across five decades.
The Peace Campus is on Plantation Road in Monaghan town, about two minutes’ walk from the bus station and opposite the Lidl on the Armagh Road side of town. Bus Éireann services connect Monaghan to Dublin, Belfast, Cavan and Dundalk, and the campus has its own on-site parking for visitors driving in.
The Peace Campus sits a short walk from Monaghan’s town centre, home to the county museum, library and Market House. There is more to see in Monaghan and across Co. Monaghan, including the county’s other border towns that share this history of Troubles-era hardship and cross-community connection.
Heading to Monaghan Peace Campus in Monaghan? Monaghan has plenty more to see. Read the Monaghan area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
In town for Monaghan Peace Campus? These Dublin tours book out in summer.