A MAJOR renovation plan for Dublin's Natural History Museum has been put on hold because of the shortfall in public finances. Some €15 million had been earmarked in the National Development Plan to upgrade the 150-year-old building on Merrion Street which closed to the public in July 2007 after a staircase collapsed.
There has been no public announcement on the postponement of the project, but a spokesman for the Office of Public Works (OPW) told The Irish Times that the refurbishment would not progress as planned.
He said the OPW was instead trying to pinpoint the repair work that needed to be done to allow the museum to reopen in 2009.
The spokesman insisted that the main project had not been abandoned. "We are not saying the project won't happen. It just won't happen in the timescale that was anticipated." The original refurbishment plan included work to the fabric of the museum as well as a new glass extension.
It would contain lifts, toilets, a shop and a cafe. New environmental controls would also be introduced to protect the collections. The project was due for completion in late 2010/early 2011.
The National Museum of Ireland's head of services, Séamus Lynam, said the museum staff were realistic and understood the problems with the public finances. "Basically the museum's position is that we want to get the museum open again - 150,000 visitors come to our museum every year. That's a big number. We are very cognisant of the huge fondness for the museum."
Mr Lynam said the museum would not be able to reopen until access issues were dealt with because elderly people or those with disabilities were unable to go upstairs. He said the museum would also like to see an improvement in its educational space before reopening. He hoped a decision on the reopening would be made early in the new year.
As it awaits a decision on the reopening, the museum has planned a temporary exhibition on natural history in the National Museum at Collins Barracks in March.
"We want to keep the footprint of natural history in the public eye," Mr Lynam said. "That's very important to us."
A temporary exhibition was recently held in the country life museum in Castlebar for the same reason.
The refurbishment plan for the museum had been in the offing for some time but matters came to a head on July 5th, 2007, when a limestone staircase behind the scenes collapsed without warning. Ten people were taken to hospital.
The building houses more than 10,000 exhibits of zoology and geology and keeps two million scientific specimens in storage behind the scenes.
