JP McManus’s International Rugby Experience venture in Limerick recorded €1m loss in 2024

The interiors at the International Rugby Experience, Limerick. Picture: Paul Lehane

The firm behind billionaire businessman JP McManus’s ill-fated International Rugby Experience venture in Limerick recorded losses of €1.05m last year.

In December of last year, the International Rugby Experience shut its doors 19 months after opening in May 2023 to much fanfare and endorsed by the likes of Ireland and Munster rugby legends Paul O’Connell and Keith Wood.

The six storey visitor attraction on Limerick’s O’Connell Street was built through a €30m gift from the JP McManus Foundation.

New accounts for Rugby World Experience CLG show that the scale of the losses in the visitor attraction’s first full year of operation - though start-up losses for a venture of this scale would have been anticipated.

In the accounts, signed off earlier this month, the directors,  which include JP McManus’s daughter, Sue-Ann Foley and former Ireland rugby captain, Paul O’Connell note that the visitor experience closed in December 2024 “and are considering their options for the building going forward”.

The directors state that the principle activity of the charity is to promote the regeneration of Limerick city centre through the means of th evisitor experience.

The €1.05m loss for 2024 followed a surplus of €10.27m for 2023 but this was mainly due to a €12m donation recorded that year.

The new accounts for Rugby World Experience CLG show that monies generated from visitors included in ‘other trading activities’ was €595,636 for 2024.

The €595,636 total for 2024 was only 12% ahead of the €529,321 generated under the same heading in 2023 when the International Rugby Experience only opened its doors in May of that year.

The losses for the firm would have been even greater last year but for €700,000 received in income in 'donations and legacies' and the firm’s overall income totalled €1.33m.

However, the €1.05m loss arises from its expenditure totalling €2.38m including €662,225 in staff costs. The visitor attraction last year reduced its workforce from 31 to 20.

In October 2024, Limerick City and County Council declined an offer from the JP McManus backed venture of the €30m building and a cheque for €1.2m up front to cover most of the annual projected losses until the end of 2027.

JP McManus addressed a behind closed doors meeting of the Council in June of this year on the fall-out from the closure and this was organised as an attempt at reconciliation between the billionaire and the council.