Recruitment ban forces closure of town’s museum

AN HISTORIC museum in a top tourist town has been forced to close because of the Government’s ban on public sector recruitment.

Tourism experts in Kinsale in Co Cork are trying to arrange a meeting with Environment Minister John Gormley in a desperate effort to save the facility. They want him to make a special exception that would allow Cork County Council to employ a part-time museum caretaker, to replace the man who retired last year.

However, hopes are fading that the building will reopen in time to salvage what is left of the tourist season.

There are also fears for the long-term future of the museum, and for its valuable collection which is gathering dust inside.

The striking building which houses the Kinsale Regional Museum on Market Square was built about 1600. Other sections were added in 1706, including the frontage with the loggia on the ground floor. The upper floors date back almost 300 years.

It first served as the town’s market house but, as Kinsale grew, the building also became a courthouse.

The courthouse was used in 1915 for the inquest into the deaths of those who died during the sinking of the liner Lusitania.

It then became a museum which opened seasonally, from Easter to October.

However, its part-time caretaker retired last year, and because of the ban on public sector recruitment, the county council says it cannot hire a replacement. The museum has remained closed this year.

Dermot Ryan is secretary of the Kinsale History Society which is spearheading the campaign to get the facility reopened.

“Every morning and afternoon, as part of the Kinsale heritage town walk, I stand in front of the building telling tourists the history of our town, while apologising for the closure of the museum,” Mr Ryan said.

“I am lucky to have a unique selection of maps and photographs, even a Lusitania medallion, to illustrate the story of the town, but this is no substitute for those who want to visit the museum itself and see the collection that has been built up through the dedication of local residents.”

He said a recent tour group included a man whose great aunt died on the Lusitania.

“I was very disappointed that he was only able to stand outside the building,” Mr Ryan said.

“It is a great pity to see the museum, which was built up by dozens of volunteers over the years, closed.

“We are selling Kinsale as the heritage town of the south and we can’t open the museum.

“Surely something could be done to hire someone at a time when tourism is under threat.”

The museum houses a large number of local artifacts relating to Kinsale’s maritime, military and secular history from the Battle of Kinsale to the Kinsale Giant.

The appeal to save the museum comes as figures released by the Central Statistics Office yesterday show a 15% drop in visitors to Ireland – with a 20% drop in the British market.

West Cork Senator Michael McCarthy branded the figures as “nothing short of calamitous for those areas that rely on the tourism industry”.

“Today’s figures make for grim reading, but simply confirm what people in areas like my own in West Cork have been saying for some time: that the tourist industry in Ireland is taking a battering,” he said.

“These figures should act as a wake up call for Minister Cullen and the quangos who oversee tourism in Ireland.”

Kinsale also has an exhibition centre in Charles Fort and an international wine museum at Desmond Castle.