OPW approved building of €71m children's science museum, exposing taxpayer to 'unnecessary risk'

The OPW is legally obligated to build a second children’s science museum in Dublin city centre, having agreed to do so in 2003 — despite the fact a privately-owned museum has existed in the capital since 2019. File picture: Sasko Lazarov/ RollingNews.ie

The Office of Public Works (OPW) had no authority to approve the construction of a €71m National Children’s Science Museum but proceeded regardless, exposing the State to “unnecessary risk”.

The OPW, the body with responsibility for State-owned properties, is legally obligated to build a second children’s science museum in Dublin city centre, having agreed to do so in 2003 — despite the fact a privately-owned museum has existed in the capital since 2019.

A special report by State auditor the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) found at that time, when reviewing a draft agreement for lease, the Chief State Solicitor’s Office advised the OPW “to seek the consent of the minister for finance prior to the execution of the agreement”, but there is “no evidence”  such a sanction had either been sought or received.

While the OPW said in November 2003 it had a special sanction, dating from 1957, to lease out properties for periods of less than 21 years, the C&AG concluded that, given a new building was to be constructed to accommodate the museum, specific permission from the Department of Finance should have been sought.

At the time, the proposed building on Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin’s south centre was budgeted at €14.3m, a figure that rose to €26m in 2013 before reaching its current level of €70.4m.

“This figure may not reflect current market conditions and could increase further,” the C&AG said.

The report says in entering into binding financial commitments with Irish Children’s Museum Limited (ICML) — the private charity promoting the project — without the sponsorship of a Government department, the OPW “effectively took on the obligations attaching to the project” without applying the “safeguards designed to ensure public funds are used effectively and efficiently” in doing so.

Further, the C&AG said there was “no evidence” either that the initial proposal by ICML for the building of the children’s museum had ever been formally evaluated, nor that any State body compiled a formal business case for the project, as was required by the guidelines for such ventures at the time.

“Without a comprehensive assessment of the project's financial viability, long-term costs and potential returns, there is no assurance about whether the investment in the science centre potentially represents value for money or aligns with broader fiscal priorities,” he said.

While just under €4.3m has been spent on the project to date over the past 20 years, the OPW remains legally obliged to carry out the museum's construction after giving a legally-binding commitment to do so to the ICML in 2013. That commitment has since been tested and enforced by the charity following two separate arbitration processes.

It is understood the first arbitration resulted from the OPW being requested to honour the terms of the lease it first signed with the ICML in 2003.

Ireland’s existing children's science museum, Explorium, was built in 2019 on a 20-acre site in Sandyford, about 10km from Dublin’s city centre.

A meeting of the Public Accounts Committee with the OPW in July 2024 heard repeatedly the OPW had no say in whether or not the building was needed, just that it was obligated to build it.