Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The Minister should not start me on Collins Barracks. I will stick to the Natural History Museum. It is more than 18 months since the stairs collapsed in the Natural History Museum and it was closed. Some €15 million was put into the national development plan for essential improvements in the Natural History Museum, namely, a small extension, a lift and a little coffee area. The lift was essential from a health and safety point of view to bring people to the second floor toilet. This was planned long before the stairs collapsed. The reason we were told 12 months ago that the work on the museum could not even begin was that the repair of the stairs was to be incorporated into the extension and refurbishment work. Now we are being told the refurbishment and extension work will not happen. Where is the €15 million? Is it gone? Can we take it that this will not happen? When can we realistically expect the work on at least making the museum safe to begin?

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