{"id":316264,"date":"2026-02-25T09:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/316264\/"},"modified":"2026-02-25T09:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T09:50:08","slug":"imma-seeks-legal-advice-amid-escalating-row-with-opw-over-kilmainham-plans-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/316264\/","title":{"rendered":"Imma seeks legal advice amid escalating row with OPW over Kilmainham plans \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Irish Museum of Modern Art<\/a> (Imma) has said its cultural significance is being \u201centirely overlooked\u201d in a State plan to renovate its building in Kilmainham, Dublin. <\/p>\n

Ali Curran, chair of Imma\u2019s board, said related issues between the museum and the Office of Public Works<\/a> (OPW) had been \u201cescalating for some time\u201d, and may require the intervention of Minister for Culture Patrick O\u2019Donovan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Imma is now seeking legal advice with regard to the draft plan relating to the conservation of the museum\u2019s site in Dublin 8. <\/p>\n

In a letter seen by The Irish Times, Curran said she believed Imma\u2019s \u201ccultural significance\u201d and \u201ccontribution to Irish life\u201d were being \u201centirely overlooked\u201d. <\/p>\n

The draft plan, the letter argued, \u201cstrays some distance from what may be expected… into areas of constitutional revision and dilution of Imma as the operator of the site with an emphasis on the strategic repositioning of the OPW, undermining the museum\u2019s mandate\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0One Night in Dublin … at the museum: A nocturnal walkabout at the Irish Museum of Modern ArtOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Curran made the remarks in a letter to Feargal \u00d3 Coigligh, secretary general at the Department of Culture, last month.<\/p>\n

In the letter, dated January 14th and obtained under Freedom of Information, she said Imma\u2019s board was \u201cextremely concerned\u201d about the plan.<\/p>\n

Curran said Imma needs more space for its programming, but there were \u201cseveral instances\u201d in the plan which propose certain parts of the premises requiring renovation would be used exclusively by the OPW in the future. <\/p>\n

Curran informed \u00d3 Coigligh that Annie Fletcher, Imma\u2019s director, was \u201cengaging legal advice to decide how to respond\u201d to the conservation management plan (CMP) \u201cand the operating procedures as they contain clauses that are in direct contravention of the existing management agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the letter, Curran said she believed \u201cdepartmental input\u201d was needed to resolve the situation.<\/p>\n

Imma has operated at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham<\/a> (RHK), one of the oldest classical buildings in Ireland, since 1991. The OPW assists in its maintenance and preservation. <\/p>\n

Curran said Imma\u2019s board and executive were \u201cmindful of the excellent work\u201d the OPW does in ensuring the RHK site is well maintained and accessible. However, she said elements of the draft plan \u201cgo well beyond this scope\u201d.<\/p>\n

The document includes \u201cseveral incorrect or misrepresented statements\u201d, but \u201cthe overarching issue is the reframing of the heritage value of the site as the priority above the cultural and social use\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Imma\u2019s relentlessly on-message programme highlights its identity crisisOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board is extremely concerned about this CMP as it minimises Imma\u2019s presence on site and proposes buildings on the site for OPW use, in clear contradiction of the existing management agreement that gives sole managerial, programming and operational responsibility to Imma, while giving the OPW responsibility for conservation and maintenance of the buildings and site,\u201d the letter stated. <\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Imma said that, as of yet, there has been no meeting between representatives of Imma and either the Department of Culture or the OPW regarding the plan. She said Imma\u2019s board has written to the OPW requesting that the draft of the CMP be revised.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was agreed between Imma and the OPW that plans for site development under the [National Development Plan<\/a>] would be delayed until the CMP was accepted by all parties.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for the department said the \u201cfeedback\u201d provided by Imma forms \u201cpart of the ongoing dialogue between the stakeholders that will enable the final version of the plan to be fully reflective of both the conservation needs of the site and also its position as the home venue of a living national cultural institution\u201d. <\/p>\n

The department is \u201csupportive of these joint objectives\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

The OPW was contacted for comment. <\/p>\n

The RHK, which was constructed in the 1680s, was used as a home for retired soldiers for almost 250 years. The site served as Garda headquarters from 1930 to 1950, but fell into disrepair until 1980, when then-taoiseach Charles Haughey approved plans to renovate the site as a cultural space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Irish Museum of Modern Art (Imma) has said its cultural significance is being \u201centirely overlooked\u201d in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[147595,61,60,106973,3413,43,32235,6232,130159],"class_list":{"0":"post-316264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-department-of-culture-communications-and-sport","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-irish-museum-of-modern-art","12":"tag-national-development-plan","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-office-of-public-works","15":"tag-patrick-o-donovan","16":"tag-royal-hospital-kilmainham"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}