Never work with children or animals. The infamous W C Fields adage doesn't quite apply when you are a junior minister with responsibility for the younger generation.
The Minister of State for Health and Children, Mr Brian Lenihan faced a new challenge in Galway yesterday when asked to "welcome" a six-foot moulded fibreglass mouth. The lacquered, sprayed piece of anatomy, is one of the first major exhibits for the "Inside my Body" section of a new children's discovery museum.
The museum will be the first of its type in the State, and is due to be opened in Galway's Ballybrit Industrial Estate early in the new year. FÁS, the Irish Youth Foundation, Galway City and County councils, a number of Galway-based multinationals and companies, and the Western Development Commission are among the prime movers behind the initiative, while Dr Christine Domegan of NUI, Galway has taken two years' leave of absence from her university post to set it all up. Museum Feasa na nÓg will be an "interactive, fun and educational facility", its backers state, geared for children from birth to 12 years of age.
Soft sensory areas, using a range of textiles, light, music, smell and touch to depict the four seasons will be provided for babies and toddlers, while older children will have miniature labs, a television studio and other exhibits awaiting them.
Children with special needs will be especially welcomed.
The city's scientific reputation has also been developed by the Galway Education Centre, which staged last week's highly successful Galway Science and Technology Festival.
Earlier yesterday the Minister of State opened several afterschool childcare facilities in Renmore and at the Galway Educate Together National School in Newcastle.
The 21st anniversary of a "talking" newspaper for the blind and visually impaired was marked by the President, Mrs McAleese, at NUI, Galway yesterday when an artwork by sculptor John Coll was unveiled at the university campus in tribute to the Galway Echo.
