Mayo wanted it, and Mayo is going to get it - on time. So says the National Museum of Ireland about the opening of its Irish folklife division in Turlough Park House next year.
The £9 million project is running to schedule and there is no question of any delay for lack of funding, Mr Paul Doyle, the manager/keeper of the museum, told The Irish Times. The 19th century house outside Castlebar has been renovated, and the construction of a 35,000 square foot exhibition gallery and storage centre is on target, he says. The grounds are being landscaped under the EU-funded Great Gardens of Ireland programme.
It is expected the official opening will take place before the end of next year, Mr Doyle says, dismissing reports that the Department of Finance has stalled on staffing. Several appointments had already been made, he pointed out. Up to 35 people will work there when the project is complete.
Mayo County Council's secretary, Mr Padraig Hughes, confirms that the initiative is on target. Billed as the most prestigious tourism venture undertaken by Mayo County Council - given that projected visitor figures are 250,000 a year - Turlough Park House was endorsed by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, last April. "Bringing it all back home" was how she described the decision to provide dedicated exhibition space for over 50,000 artefacts, many of them currently consigned to cases and boxes in Daingean, Co Offaly.
The house on a 30-acre estate is owned by the county council and dates from 1865. It was designed by the distinguished Irish architects, Woodward and Deane, who were involved in the design of the National Museum in Kildare Street, Dublin. The pair also left their mark on Trinity College Dublin and on Oxford.
It was largely due to the commitment of Dr Anne O'Dowd of the museum's folklife division that the initiative took off, with funding coming from the EU, the Department of Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, and Mayo County Council. The development is being undertaken by the Office of Public Works, and the construction contract was awarded to James Rhatigan of Galway.
At the inauguration of the project, Ms de Valera said she had decided to transfer EU funds earmarked for another major project in her portfolio - a second recital hall for the National Concert Hall in Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin - to Turlough Park House. The recital hall would be funded directly from Exchequer sources when it was in a position to go ahead, she said.
The Minister described the folklife collection as a physical record of many extraordinary skills "lost in the mists of history". Work on the exhibition is expected to begin next June, according to Mr Doyle. The exhibits will be in 14 sections, ranging from fishing and farming to domestic tasks in past centuries. Four curators, including Dr O'Dowd, will work there, and there will be researchers, conservators, administrative and sales and marketing staff.
When it was first announced, the philosophy behind the project caused some concern among academics who believe such museums should be linked to research centres at third-level institutions.
However, the fact that the folklife collection is to find a permanent home represents an achievement. In the words of Ms de Valera, the western location "represents an emotional and spiritual return".