Visitors to Waterford left ‘disappointed’ by sudden closure of popular museum

A number of visitors to Waterford city have been left “disappointed” by the sudden closure of a popular museum, a council meeting has heard.

The Irish Museum of Time, located on Greyfriars Street, closed on a temporary basis on January 29 and hasn’t reopened since.

Waterford Treasures, which is a subsidiary of Waterford City and County Council, said this was to facilitate works on the museum’s upcoming expansion.

However, the advisory board of the museum claim it received no consultation prior to this decision being made.

It also argues that the museum could have remained open whilst the extension was being undertaken. The board raised these points in an email circulated to local councillors.

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Social Democrats councillor Mary Roche enquired about the status of the museum at the February plenary meeting of Waterford City and County Council.

Cllr Roche said: “Can I just ask about the Museum of Time? I think all of us have had communications from them and indeed a response from the executive but I’d like further information please.

“I’d like to know if it [the closure] was absolutely necessary because according to the email, it doesn’t seem like it was necessary to close it.

“I looked back through the management reports from the last couple of months and I don’t see anything about a planned closure for the Museum of Time.”

She continued by outlining the experience of some people who have looked to visit the museum in recent weeks and requested more information on the museum’s reopening.

“I know personally that some people have been disappointed to come along and they weren’t aware it was closed.

“I’d just like a little bit more information on that please as well as an assurance on the reopening date.”

In response to Cllr Roche, Sean McKeown, Chief Executive of Waterford City and County Council, described communications from the board as “unfortunate”.

Mr McKeown said: “I suppose the communications over the past couple of days on this have been unfortunate in that this is a very positive news story for Waterford.

“We’re going to have a fantastic new expanded museum by the end of this month. It’s still on course to be completed by that timescale.

“We’re very grateful to the benefactors for the extremely generous contributions they have made, at home and abroad and the work that Eamon McEnaneaney has been doing over the last 18 months. We all recognise that.”

He then outlined the events that led to the closure of the museum at the end of last month.

“The Chief Executive of Waterford Treasures [Sara Dolan] approached me towards the end of January about the necessity to close the museum for operational reasons.

“We have a service based agreement as a council with Waterford Treasures to operate all of our six museums, so when the Chief Executive tells me for operational reasons she needs to close the museum, I have no reason to doubt that’s the case.

“That was communicated to all of the stakeholders. It’s unfortunate some of the stakeholders regretted that move.”

He concluded by outlining the council’s commitment to the museum and its anticipation to its reopening.

“This council and Waterford Treasures are committed to the museum. That case remains so and I hope that’s clear to all the elected members.

“It will be reopened, it’ll be a fabulous new facility, we will have a big plan for the opening and there should be no concerns about the future of the Irish Museum of Time.”