Running costs for museum could reach €600,000

The running costs for a proposed new county museum could be up to €600,000 a year, Roscommon County Council has revealed.

At last month’s council meeting, a proposal by Independent councillor Tom Crosby to develop a designated county museum in Strokestown - which would allow artefacts from the National Museum of Ireland to be displayed locally - received strong backing from fellow councillors.

In a formal reply to Cllr Crosby’s notice of motion, the council said that the provision of a county museum would be a “very significant undertaking in terms of capital investment in the first instance and once delivered, in terms of operational logistics”.

“As well as the maintenance and operation of a specialised climate-controlled building with facilities for collections, research, storage, managing visitors, etc., there would be a requirement for permanent qualified staff to carry out the functions of the museum to the required standard to maintain accreditation and designation,” it said.

The local authority pointed out that there were seven designated county museums across the country.

All of them were subsidised by their respective local authorities at an average rate of €474,000 per year, and within a range of €300k to 600k annually based on their 2026 revenue budgets.

In its response, the council said that there didn’t appear to be a source of funding for either the capital cost or the operation cost of a proposed county museum.

However, it acknowledged that Roscommon has a rich cultural and built heritage, and that many collections would be of significant local interest if accredited and designated facilities were available.

In that context, the council said it would seek to identify and apply for funding to advance a feasibility study for such a museum.