The group behind the long-planned National Children’s Science Centre, earmarked for Earlsfort Terrace in Dublin, has said it would raise up to €25 million to fit out the premises.
However, in a report last year, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) suggested the facility could cost up to €70 million to develop. Under current plans the State would contribute to any deficit in running costs for the proposed centre.
The C&AG was scathing about the background to the project, which dates back about 20 years, in the report last year. The report maintained that a commitment by the Office of Public Works (OPW) to build a children’s science centre “exposed the exchequer to unnecessary risk”.
However, in a submission to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee in advance of a hearing on Thursday, the Irish Children’s Museum Ltd (ICML), a not-for-profit company and a registered charity, argued the case for the planned centre is “more compelling than ever”.
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ICML board member Prof Luke O’Neill of Trinity College will tell the committee in prepared remarks that “Ireland has benefited enormously from the many leading technology, scientific, pharma and medtech companies that are located here”.
“They are telling us that encouraging children to take up careers in science-based industries is important, particularly for their employment pipeline. Many are willing to support ICML financially to make it happen,” his statement says.
ICML chief executive Barbara Galavan will say in her prepared statement that full planning permission was granted for the design of the science centre at Earlsfort Terrace in 2016 and again in 2024.
The plans feature 9,580sq m of public exhibition, event and programmable spaces, which include three floors of interactive exhibits, a 122-seater planetarium, a theatre and fully equipped science laboratory spaces.
“This is the same site on which the National Concert Hall is located. The National Concert Hall also received planning permission in 2024, and Phase I of its redevelopment works has already begun,” her statement says.
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“ICML has committed to raising €25 million for the fit-out of the science centre, which will be gifted to the State for the benefit of children. This has been made possible due to the ongoing strong philanthropic support for the project from leaders and employers in technology and science. They see the need, and are willing to back it financially.”
In a separate briefing document for the committee the ICML says the north wing of the Earlsfort Terrace site is in urgent need of remedial work “and the OPW has stated that, regardless of its end use, about €40 million will need to be spent to restore and preserve that part of the building, which is a significant State asset”.
This means the cost of providing a building for use as a national children’s science centre is estimated to be €30 million, it says.
The deficit in running costs would then be met by Government and ICML, says the briefing document. Government subvention is the norm in facilities of this nature in other OECD countries, it adds.
