The Natural History Museum will remain closed for the foreseeable future while an immediate "rigorous structural and safety audit" is undertaken after 11 people were injured when a staircase collapsed, according to Minister for Arts Séamus Brennan.
Mr Brennan told the Dáil that part of a limestone staircase in the private part of the museum fractured and collapsed. "Twenty-one primary teachers attending a science appreciation course were in that part of the museum at the time," he said.
"A number of those were on or in the vicinity of the stairs at the time. The museum immediately notified the emergency services, tended to the injured, evacuated and closed the building."
Before he began his first question time as Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Mr Brennan issued a brief statement to the Dáil about the circumstances of the accident at the museum, which is next door to Leinster House on Merrion Square.
Extending his "heartfelt sympathies" and a "speedy and full recovery" to the 11 people who were hurt, Mr Brennan said they had been removed to St James, St Vincent's and the Mater hospitals. None of the injuries was life-threatening.
The director of the museum and the department "will continue to monitor developments", he said. Mr Brennan also paid tribute to the emergency services, museum safety staff and the gardaí who "were immediately on the scene and I'm grateful for their swift response".
Mr Brennan visited the museum with Minister of State Noel Ahern, who has responsibility for the OPW. He was briefed by museum director Dr Pat Wallace, "and I asked him that the building should remain closed and subjected to a rigorous structural and safety audit, which he has now commenced".
Fine Gael arts spokesman Jimmy Deenihan described the accident as a "wake-up call" and urged the Minister to "follow up rigorously" and leave no delay whatsoever in putting in an "immediate investment in the building" once the audit was complete.
"I have been calling for some time now for significant investment in the structures, not only of the Natural History Museum but of the National Museum and the writers' museum," he said.
Labour spokesman Jack Wall congratulated the emergency services and said it was "always a revelation to see how organised that they are".
He said that mechanisms would have to be put in place "to ensure the safety of the building and to restore it to its position as part of our heritage".
