Rugby News

BREAKING: Limerick’s International Rugby Experience confirms its closure

October 24, 2024

LIMERICK’s International Rugby Experience has confirmed it is to close its doors at the end of the year.

A statement this Thursday evening confirmed that the Limerick city centre rugby museum will cease operations and close its doors on December 23.

All existing bookings for the venue will be honoured up to December 23, visits to Santa’s Secret Workshop and other booked events inclusive. The doors will close permanently from that date and no new bookings are being taken with immediate effect. Bookings for subsequent dates will be refunded in full.

The statement outlined how the intention was to gift the O’Connell Street venue to the State and in so doing help with visitor footfall to Limerick city centre. This gift offer, along with a €1.2 million donation, was made to Limerick City and County Council in October 2023, with Heads of Terms signed by both parties in March 2024. It is understood that the proposed offer would have seen the building free to be used for any civic purpose by Limerick City and County Council after 2028.

The statement confirms the International Rugby Experience “has been unable to advance the process with the Council and so have taken the difficult decision to close the business”.

Limerick City and County Council issued a seperate media release, stating it is “disappointed by the news announced today that the International Rugby Experience is set for closure”.

“We want to assure the public that every effort was made to secure the proposed transfer of the International Rugby Experience into Discover Limerick DAC, the Council owned tourism company that manages other Limerick attractions including King John’s Castle,” outlined the statement from Limerick City and County Council.

“Following extensive due diligence, a detailed briefing was provided to the councillors of Limerick City and County Council, as recently as this week, to discuss the proposed transition. All possible avenues were explored including a report from an independent tourism expert consultant. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to secure a viable path forward as substantial operational and capital funding would be required from the Council into the future.”

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The International Rugby Experience, initially funded through a €30 million investment by the JP McManus Charitable Foundation, is a fully immersive, hands on, multi-sensory experience.

“The experience has brought over 60,000 visitors to the city centre since it opened and has delivered an estimated €7.8 million boost to the local economy in that period. This project was a not-for-profit charitable venture and was constructed and delivered without state support, funding or grant aid. The entity being gifted is entirely debt free,” outlined the statement.

“The International Rugby Experience (IRE) thanks Paul O’Connell and Keith Wood who have been unselfish in their fantastic assistance to the project since the concept stage. The IRE thanks its wonderful staff, and the people of Limerick and beyond, for supporting the venture and the effort to help to bring life back to the city centre,” concluded the statement.

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