Charity has occupied offices rent free since 2013 at site promised for children's museum, PAC told

At the  Public Accounts Committee  hearing, chair of the OPW John Conlon was told that the proposed museum represented an 'absolute unmitigated disaster' of governance, an accusation he did not dispute. File photo: Sasko Lazarov/© RollingNews.ie

A group to whom the Government has legally committed to building a children’s science museum in Dublin at a cost of €70m has been occupying two offices at the site rent free for the past 12 years.

The Public Accounts Committee heard on Thursday that Irish Children’s Museum Limited (ICML) — a consortium of individuals including prominent barrister Michael Collins and Ali Hewson, the wife of U2 frontman Bono — was given access to the offices in 2013 as part of an arbitration process which legally bound the Office of Public Works to build the museum.

To date, the project has been the subject of two arbitration processes — with the ICML prevailing in both. This has left the State legally committed to building the museum despite a lack of enthusiasm by the Government to do so. 

Its proposed construction is a 9,000 sq m National Concert Hall site on Earlsfort Terrace in the south inner city. Meanwhile, a separate, privately-owned children’s museum, Explorium, has existed on Dublin’s southside since 2019.

At the PAC hearing, chair of the OPW John Conlon was told that the proposed museum represented an “absolute unmitigated disaster” of governance, an accusation he did not dispute. “I wish there had been better governance, there wasn’t, I’m not going to defend that,” Mr Conlon said.

He said that while he fully appreciates that the OPW is committed to building the museum, at present no department or agency can be found to sponsor and fund the project. It was granted full planning permission by An Coimisiun Pleanala in April of last year.

Because no sponsor can be found, the OPW has not yet entered into pre-selection for the building’s construction, Mr Conlon said.

Put to him by Fine Gael’s James Geoghegan that “nobody wants” the building to be constructed, Mr Conlon said he had to be very careful in terms of commenting on the build given the legal commitments the OPW is subject to.

He would not comment as to whether or not he thought the building would eventually be constructed, but did say: “I’m frustrated with this project, it does need resolution, I fully agree.”

More than €4.2m has been spent on the project’s expenses to date — on consultants’ fees, surveys, site works, and more than €700,000 on legal costs.

No business case was ever presented for the building, while a recent report on the project by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy, noted that the OPW should have gotten approval from the Department of Finance before committing to the project in 2003, but never did.

Regarding the fact that ICML has been occupying space at the vacant Earlsfort Terrace site since 2013, Mr McCarthy said it is of “concern” that no standard landlord-tenant relationship exists between the OPW and the consortium.

Asked by Sinn Féin’s Joanna Byrne if it would be possible for the State to cut its losses and enter into a public-private partnership with Explorium in order to deliver a Government-run children’s museum, Mr Conlon said that question “is a matter for (ICML), not for me, I can’t comment”.

“I can’t determine what they’re going to do,” he said.