We’ll Mescall it after Paul
Actor tipped in Trinity Library name vote
SHANE POWER THERE is growing support for the library at Trinity College in Dublin to be named after Paul Mescal.
The BAFTA winning actor is a graduate of Trinity in real life, and has filmed on location there as his Normal People character Connell Waldron who studied English at TCD.
Trinity is inviting public submissions on a new name for the campus library that was formerly named after philosopher George Berkeley, on foot of a petition by students.
In April, TCD chose to dename the Berkeley Library after protests from students who said naming a library after an enslaver was “abhorrent”.
Earlier this year a petition to rename the central library after Theobald Wolfe Tone, leader of the 1798 Rebellion, received hundreds of signatures.
SUBMISSIONS
But now rising Hollywood star Mescal, 27, has been touted after submissions suggesting it should be called Paul Mescal Memorial Library.
A source said: “This is a great topic of debate on campus and the Mescal proposal is really gathering momentum. He has put Ireland on the map internationally.”
TCD Students Union said in August it would refer to the library as the ‘X Library’ until a new name is agreed, asking the college to remove the sign bearing Berkeley’s name.
Submissions on a new name for the library will be accepted until January 2024.
Maynooth native Mescal made his film debut in The Lost Daughter opposite Dakota Johnson and Olivia Colman in 2021.
He won critical acclaim for his role in 2022 movies God’s Creatures and Aftersun, as well as winning a Laurence Olivier Award for his portrayal of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.