First-floor galleries at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, closed since November after a fault was discovered in the lighting system, are not expected to reopen until February.
Their closure was ordered by the Office of Public Works (OPW) after engineers discovered a structural fault in the light fittings between the first and second floors.
The closure has meant that the Michael Craig-Martin and Iran do Espírito Santo exhibitions, as well as the Irish Art of the Seventies exhibition and the Louis le Brocquy display, have been closed to the public since November 30th. The museum's family programme, Explorer, is also suspended.
The museum's head of public affairs, Philomena Byrne, said the timing of the closure was determined by the OPW's desire to carry out the refurbishment "fairly soon" and because three of the main exhibitions affected had been running for some time.
"The period coming up to Christmas is usually fairly quiet," Ms Byrne said. "We would have been hoping for a lot of visitors in the post- Christmas period; it's a pity we're missing out on that, but the priority was to have the work done."
An OPW spokesman said the problem was detected during routine maintenance. Because the lighting supports were not properly secured, there was a danger the lights could fall if the work was not carried out immediately.
The museum hopes to reopen the upper floor for two major exhibitions, by American artist Alex Katz and German photographer Thomas Demand, scheduled to run from February 28th.
