Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan directed his officials to begin immediate work on a permanent women’s museum in Limerick despite it being described as a “long-term vision” by the advisory group behind the report.
The publication of the Advisory Committee on Women’s Stories’ report in December 2025 coincided with an offer made by the family of billionaire businessman JP McManus to donate the building housing the defunct Irish Rugby Experience (IRE) museum to the State.
The Minister, a TD for Limerick, presented the report of the advisory group to Government on December 12th and, in the press release, focused in particularly on one of the 31 recommendations, the establishment of a permanent woman’s museum.
“I am determined to progress these recommendations, including the one establishing a permanent women’s museum,” he said.
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Documents released by O’Donovan’s Department of Culture on foot of a Freedom of Information request indicated that six days after the report was presented to Cabinet, work was already under way to locate the women’s museum in Limerick.
An email from an official to secretary general Feargal Ó Coigligh on December 18th stated that initial discussions had taken place between the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) and its then director Lynn Scarfe.
“Understand there have been some developments Lynn’s side too has moved a bit already!” the email stated.
It added: “Perhaps some kind of note/email to owners to thank them and to say we are working on issues various as a courtesy too?”
This was the first indication in writing the McManus family had offered the building to the State. The schedule of documents released made no reference to when the offer was made by McManus, to whom it was made, or what the response was.
The six-storey museum was funded by a €30 million gift from the McManus family foundation. It had a high profile opening in 2023 but was shuttered in December 2024 after posting losses of €1 million that year.
There were only 60,000 visitors in its first year, well below the projected 100,000. McManus then offered the museum to Limerick Council which declined the offer on financial grounds. Mayor of Limerick John Moran said he had been advised by consultants the museum would require a minimum of 70,000 visitors a year to break even.
The report of the Advisory Committee on Women’s Stories said it recognised that “the establishment of a new women’s museum was a long-term project with significant resource implications, but it is also one which could be of huge benefit for future generations”.
It recommended a two-stranded approach that would see exhibitions at existing museum spaces, travelling exhibitions, a national listening tour “while building towards the long-term vision of a bricks and mortar museum”.
Consultants CHL conducted a detailed examination of the proposal for the committee including case studies of women’s museums and libraries in Europe. The findings were, on the whole, positive. However, all the European museums were housed in relatively small buildings compared to the IRE building, with reported visitor numbers ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 annually. The Women’s museum in Hanoi, one of Vietnam’s main tourist attractions, is one of the only buildings of comparable size to the Limerick building.
O’Donovan brought a memo to Cabinet on February 24th seeking approval in principle to accept the gift of the building.
In the preceding days, officials in the department sought detailed information on IRE losses, as well as the cost of running the NMI Museum of Country Life in Co Mayo.
To address reservations about the feasibility and costs of the project, Ó Coigligh wrote to the chair of the NMI board, Prof Cathal O’Donoghue, on February 16th stating that the Minister fully understood “the challenges to be worked through”.
“We are all agreed that the [proposal] ... cannot be managed within existing resources,” he wrote.
