The State has a “legal obligation” to deliver the long-planned National Children’s Science Centre regardless of a similar museum reopening in Dublin earlier this year, the Dáil’s spending watchdog has been told.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard that the centre, due to be located on the campus of the National Concert Hall, got planning permission in April following a decision by An Bord Pleanála.
John Conlon, the chairman of Office of Public Works (OPW) – which has been tasked with delivering the project – told the PAC that the cost of the project could be “in the region of €70 million” while stressing that the OPW hasn’t finalised the costings.
State architect Ciarán O’Connor said the plan is to convert a wing of the building at Earlsfort Terrace into the new science centre and 58 per cent of the costs relate to restoration work on a historic building “which we would have to do no matter what went into it”.
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PAC members Catherine Murphy and Brian Stanley raised questions about the plan to proceed with the new museum given the existence of a similar facility, the Explorium, in Sandyford. It reopened this year after closure during the pandemic.
The National Children’s Science Centre plan dates back to 2007 but it was shelved during the economic crisis.
Ms Murphy asked OPW officials if the existence of the Explorium changed the plans for the National Children’s Science Centre.
Mr Conlon said he assumed the promoters of the project will “have regard to the business case standing up” when they submit their plans to the relevant Government department for the funding.
It was unclear during the meeting which department the business case would be submitted to with Higher Education, Education and Tourism all suggested as having potential involvement in the project during the meeting.
Ms Murphy predicted there could be a “pass the parcel” between departments as they tried to avoid being the one to fund the project.
Mr Conlon said the OPW’s role in the centre is limited to design, procurement and overseeing construction and it will not make an assessment on “whether it’s a viable entity or not. That’s for the department that will end up funding this.”
Mr O’Connor said the original 2007 agreement was to build the centre on Military Road but the OPW was not in a position to proceed with it due to the subsequent crash.
Mr O’Connor later described the organisation promoting the centre as ‘a group of private individuals who have contributed philanthropic monies’
He said the group behind the centre “took an action in September 2013″ and the outcome was the OPW “would give a commitment to execute the project. When that didn’t proceed in the timeline as they thought was appropriate an arbitration was taken and OPW lost that arbitration.”
Mr O’Connor later described the organisation promoting the centre as “a group of private individuals who have contributed philanthropic monies”.
Asked by Ms Murphy if the “dynamic changed” given that the facility in Sandyford is open, Mr O’Connor replied: “I don’t believe so because the legal obligation stands.”
Ms Murphy said she was “really struggling to get my head around how a charitable organisation can really have their foot on the throat of the State for something like this”.
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