An eerie silence greets visitors to the converted Guinness warehouse in the Liberties area of Dublin that until recently hosted the State's digital media research institute MediaLab Europe

Laboratories that once buzzed with an excitement generated by new technological discoveries lie idle. And a video conferencing link with MediaLab Europe's sister institution at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston was decommissioned months ago, reflecting the bitter break-up between the Government and its US partner MIT.

Strolling through the building, which was bought and converted for use by the State at a cost of €15 million, the tell-tale signs of financial collapse are visible everywhere.

Stickers bearings the names and numbers of former staff members are attached to furnishings that they would like to buy. The chic brown leather sofas and comfy chairs that characterised a "laid back" and novel approach to research at MediaLab Europe are being sold in a firesale of its assets which is expected to raise over €20,000.

Even the pot plants are on the block, although interestingly the intellectual property generated by MediaLab Europe during its four-year existence has no value.

A plan to set up a new digital media institute at the Liberties site of the Digital Hub is currently under review by the Government. This is likely to be on a much smaller scale than the MediaLab Europe project and may have to fight for space with several digital media companies that are expected to move into the MediaLab building next week.

A US video games firm TKO Software will move into the building. It will hope to breathe new life into the State's dream of a Digital Dub.