Expensive efforts to turn Northern Ireland's premier archaeological site, Navan Fort, into a major visitor attraction were doomed from the start, a report said today.
Over £3.2 million sterling of public money was spent in opening the centre at the site of the ancient capital of the Kings of Ulster outside Armagh in 1993.
But according to Northern Ireland Auditor General John McDowell it became "abundantly clear" that the centre would never be commercially viable.
Nevertheless, the government departments responsible for it were convinced viability could be achieved and money continued to be pumped in. The centre relied heavily on revenue generated by visitors through admission fees and profits from the shop and cafe, said the report.
The original economic appraisal forecast 160,000 visitors a year within ten years. But Mr McDowell's report said numbers never exceeded 50,000 and averaged 33,000 over the eight years of the centre's existence.
He said although initial forecasts were unsound from the outset, the effects of political unrest, particularly that associated with the Drumcree protest in nearby Portadown, coupled with foot-and-mouth disease restrictions imposed in 2001, also contributed.
He said: "As a result the centre was in financial difficulties throughout most of its existence and received regular revenue deficit grants from public funds, the last of which ceased in March 2001."
The centre closed in June 2001 with liabilities of £125,000.
In his report, Mr McDowell recommended that clear understandings between government departments should be reached at the beginning of projects such as Navan. Responsibility for accountability and monitoring arrangements should also be established from the outset, he said.
PA