Letters shed lights on the views of key people in Limerick International Rugby museum row

THE International Rugby Experience (IRE) chief executive says there has been an “unprecedented and genuinely disappointing” level of “frustration” in dealings with the council over the now abandoned gifting of the €30m facility to Limerick.

However, council director general, Dr Pat Daly, noted that it is a “complex matter” and the local authority has always engaged “in good faith”.

Mr Daly added in a letter dated Monday, November 4, to Barry Hannon, CEO of the International Rugby Experience, that it is “regrettable” that the parameters which council needs to operate under have not been “understood or acknowledged” by the IRE , which is due to close next month with the loss of 18 jobs.

More than 30 meetings have taken place since the gifting offer was made to council in October 2023, Barry Hannon claimed in a letter on October 18 last.

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“The detail of the philanthropic gift was agreed in December 2023, but unfortunately and very regretfully it has proven almost impossible to progress any further,” said Mr Hannon.

Following a week of exchanges over the future of the O’Connell Street site, council has taken the decision to release to local council members all correspondence relating to the attraction between Mr Hannon and Mr Daly between October 18 and this Monday, November 4.

In a letter dated Saturday, November 2, Mr Hannon stated the IRE had “disengaged” with council on the transfer of the site.
Mr Daly replied in a letter to Mr Hannon this Monday that he noted this “with regret”.

Mr Hannon claimed that the council were trying to “renegotiate” the deal which he says was agreed in December 2023.
“Our total gift remains a world class architectural building which is free to the council to use for any civic purpose from 2028 and €1.2m in operational funding as an upfront payment,” he wrote on October 18.

In this first letter in the dossier, from October 18, Mr Hannon said following the signing of a Heads of Terms agreement in March 2024, a three month due diligence process was set out.

This deadline was not achieved, he said, and council sought a month-long extension.

At this point, he wrote, the McManus family had offered a two-month extension to ensure due diligence was complete.

Later in the letter Mr Hannon wrote: “The review of this offer by Limerick City and County Council has been extensive and time consuming, and, notwithstanding the generosity of the original gesture, the McManus family side has engaged with absolute transparency and goodwill through these processes at all times.”

Mr Daly wrote in response to this letter, on October 21, where he noted the frustrations, but added: “They are, I feel misplaced”.

He said the property transfer is a “complex matter” and gave a number of examples of other transfers, including King John's Castle which has moved into the auspices of a council-owned company.

“All these projects were mature ventures with demonstrable track records and business profiles from which we were able to predict emerging possibilities. This is not the case with the IRE which is effectively a tourism start-up and is unfortunately loss making and likely to be for the foreseeable future,” added the director general. “So for council to manage to bring the proposed transfer to near completion in a year as a private sector venture into the public sector is well within the timescales originally envisaged.”

Mr Daly claimed there was no formal agreement reached in December 2023, and Heads of Terms in March 2024 was not binding on either party.

It was off the back of the due diligence throwing up “significant unresolved issues” that council appointed consultants to do a further report, completed in August.

This report - presented to councillors last month - outlined the venue was projected to lose almost €700,000 this year.

Separately, Mr Hannon, in a letter of October 18 highlighted that the same consultants found the attraction is worth €5.2m a year to the local economy.

On October 24, Mr Daly wrote to Mr Hannon again following the first workshop where the consultants revealed their findings around IRE to councillors.

Mr Daly raised concern around “financial uncertainty” at the end of a three-year period which it is understood the McManus family want to keep the attraction open until.

He noted a “reimagined attraction” in the building had not been identified and funding had not been secured.

“However, there was a willingness to consider the matter further including in the context of the preparation of the local authority Budget 2025,” he added.

On this basis the council director general requested the closure be held off to allow these talks to continue.

A brief reply was issued to Mr Daly on the same day from Mr Hannon. It read: "We are disappointed the matter remains unresolved after more than 12 months, and are equally disappointed that the matter was only presented to councillors yesterday. We are proceeding with our plan as set out in our letter of October 18, 2024,” he wrote.

Ultimately, the closure date of the building was put back until December 23 from the end of October. It's not clear why this is, or if the appeal from Mr Daly to hold off on the closure had any impact.

At a special meeting, held in public last Tuesday, October 29, it was revealed Mayor Moran had agreed to put forward €100,000-a-year over three years from his own budget to help keep the IRE open and operational.

The day after this, Mr Daly wrote again to Mr Hannon to confirm this.

In this, he stated discussions were also ongoing with the relevant Government departments on securing funding to support the transfer.

He requested talks continue between the Experience and the council, and suggested there could be an independent mediator put in place.

On November 1, Mr Hannon responded: “We are most disappointed with how this offer to the people of Limerick has developed and would be grateful if you could also confirm to the elected members that we are declining the offer from the mayor's budget.”

Mr Hannon also wrote back to Ms Farrell, a council administrative officer who had written off the back of last week's special meeting to request he attend an in camera workshop. In the letter, dated November 2, Mr Hannon wrote he would be declining the offer. He confirmed management at the attraction were “disengaging” with council on the gifting deal. "We really wanted the people of the city to be involved in the next stage of the IRE. While we will now look to that future without Limerick Council, it will remain with the greater good of Limerick in mind,” he wrote.

We will look at the project through a more solution focused lens rather than highlighting potential problems which may or may not arise," he wrote.