Whisky distillery opens in former Belfast prison

McConnell's Distillery hopes to attract 100,000 people a year to Crumlin Road Gaol, expanding the city's tourist offering.That will be increased to 50 and it hopes to export Irish whisky all around the world

It is a £30m project and the investors had to get a lease from a Stormont department to build it inside the protected building. It was synonymous with the violence of the period. The IRA murdered two loyalist prisoners in a bombing in the prison canteen.It closed as a working jail in 1996 before reopening after extensive refurbishment as a visitor attraction and exhibition centre.

"I was a resident here for a period, not voluntarily, and its remarkable to be back in here and see how it has transformed.""It kind of epitomises that journey. I suppose I'm the living personification of that having been resident here and I'm thrilled to be back and it's amazing to see the difference."Eamon De Valera was held in solitary confinement in the jail in 1924 for six months for illegally entering Northern Ireland.

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