In the heart of Limerick’s Georgian quarter, next to cast iron railings and doors with elegant fanlights, sits an impressive, newly-built modern building, closed and empty.
The six-storey landmark was commissioned by Limerick billionaire JP McManus who had a dream to revitalise the O’Connell Street area of the city and to honour the county’s proud rugby tradition.
Costing thirty million euro and opening with rugby legends like Paul O’Connell to great fanfare in May 2023, the International Rugby Experience was billed to become an iconic tourist attraction. By December 2024 it was shuttered; with a bitter row about its legacy all that remained.
While the IRE was a not-for-profit tourist attraction and proved to be commercially non-viable as expected, it had been envisioned the structure itself would subsequently be put to use as a civic building under the control of Limerick City and County Council; benefitting the people of Limerick and offering a commercial boost to an area in need of regenerating.
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McManus, a self-described proud Limerick man, offered the building free of charge and even endeavoured to underwrite the IRE’s losses for a further three years.
So why did officials and the city’s directly-elected mayor refuse?
And why, in a city crying out for accessible cultural space, is it not even possible to give away a €30m, architecturally appealing, high-spec building?
Limerick journalist and Irish Times contributor, Brian Carroll, joins In The News to reveal the bitter row at the heart of this story.
Presented by Aideen Finnegan. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
