Newry actor and novelist John Lynch has written to Newry Mourne and Down District Council urging it to reverse its decision not to include Sean Hollywood's name on the new arts centre in the city.

Lynch said he learned recently that the council had decided the name would not be used. He described the decision as baffling.

Lynch was a pupil of Hollywood's at St Colman's College in Newry from 1971 until around 1979. He said Hollywood ran a weekly Speech and Drama class, which Lynch attended and where he first became involved in performance.

He said Hollywood directed him in numerous productions in Irish and English, travelling the amateur theatre circuit with the Newpoint Players from Ballymoney to Wexford.

Lynch also studied English literature under Hollywood at St Colman's. He said Hollywood helped him choose drama schools in spring 1979 and prepared him for auditions in London, after which Lynch was accepted into drama college.

Lynch has appeared in films including Cal, The Secret Garden, In the Name of the Father, Sliding Doors and The Banishing, and in television series including The Fall, The Terror, The Head and Blue Lights. He is the author of the novels Torn Water and Falling Out of Heaven.

He said his own career and his work as a published author were directly linked to Hollywood's teaching. He said there were many others like him who were helped by Hollywood.

Lynch said he counts himself fortunate to have been taught by Hollywood and urged the council not to remove his name but to let it stand as a beacon.