Museum ‘needs a long-term plan'

By Kieran O’Mahony

COUNCILLORS have been told that a long-term plan is needed for Kinsale Museum before a curator can be appointed to run the facility.

At a recent meeting of Bandon Kinsale Municipal District in Bandon, Fianna Fáil Councillor Gillian Coughlan raised a motion calling for a curator to be appointed immediately to the museum and asked for some formal timeline to be outlined by Cork County Council about their plans for it

Cllr Coughlan said the museum in Kinsale could be ‘the jewel in the crown’ if a curator could be appointed.

‘I just fear for its future if we don’t grasp the nettle as Kinsale is so historic and this museum is still being voluntary run. Have we ever asked the OPW to help?’ asked Cllr Coughlan.

Council official Mac Dara Ó h-Icí acknowledged the work of the volunteers who give their time free for the museum, but said the Council need a long-term plan first before a curator can be appointed. ‘To put a curator in Kinsale without a plan wouldn’t work and it has to be self-financing.’