OPW has spent €700,000 on legal costs in cases over mooted children's science museum

Irish Times

a day ago

The
Office of Public Works
(OPW) has paid more than €700,000 in legal fees for two arbitration cases taken by a private charity to compel it to construct a national children's science museum.
The OPW paid €560,000 in legal fees after it was required to pay the legal costs of both sides in the first arbitration process in 2013. Its own legal costs amounted to €255,252 and it also paid the €307,000 costs of Irish Children's Museum Limited (ICML), a charity that has campaigned for almost 25 years for such a facility to be provided.
OPW chairman John Conlon has written to the
Public Accounts Committee
in recent weeks disclosing the amount of the partial legal fees bill arising out of a second arbitration case commenced in 2022.
In the letter, a copy of which has been seen by The Irish Times, Mr Conlon said the second arbitration remains open but the OPW has paid €146,997 for its own legal costs to date.
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He said the OPW is required the pay the ICML's legal expenses.
These legal expenses are 'not yet settled' and are being reviewed by the State Claims Agency on behalf of the OPW. "
It is likely that the final cost of the two arbitration processes could come to between €800,000 and €900,000, with all the costs being borne by the OPW.
The OPW entered an agreement with the ICML in 2003 to build a National Children's Science Centre close to Heuston Station.
However, the construction did not go ahead because of the economic collapse from 2008. Subsequently, the ICML initiated the first arbitration proceedings against the OPW, the outcome of which compelled the State body to fulfil its contractual obligations to provide a centre.
A site was later identified on Earlsfort Terrace close to the National Concert Hall. Planning permission was granted in 2016.
ICML began a second arbitration case in 2022, and the arbitrator issued an interim award in favour of ICML in June that year. New planning permission was granted in March 2024.
At a meeting of the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee last year, Mr Conlon said the expected cost of constructing the museum could exceed €70 million.
The ICML will be responsible for the costs associated with the fit-out of the museum and the operational costs.
The Government is expected to request the ICML to provide clarity on the operating model of the museum post-construction.
ICML chief executive Barbara Galavan told The Irish Times last year that the estimated fit-out cost of the museum would be €25 million, which the charity would provide through fundraising and sponsorship.
At a meeting last year, members of the PAC criticised the high costs associated with the project and the position the OPW found itself in in having to provide a building at a high cost to a private charity.
Former Social Democrats leader Catherine Murphy told the meeting that ICML 'has its foot on the throat of the State'.
At the time, Ms Galavan responded to criticisms of ICML for pursuing a legal route by saying it would have much preferred not to have gone to arbitration. She pointed out that Ireland is the only OECD country without a national children's science museum.
The Public Accounts Committee, chaired by Sinn Féin TD, John Brady, is expected to examine the project at a hearing during the autumn.