THE building housing the Castle Lane Tavern, adjacent to King John’s Castle, should be reopened and made available to the city museum, it was stated at a meeting of the Cultural Committee at Limerick City Council.
Official Pat Dowling said that he would prefer to use a “civic building” for such a purpose.
“I don’t want to have to lease another property from a company upping its charges,” he said, but it was pointed out that Shannon Development is a semi-state company, and would be expected to make this available to help promote the city more.
Mr Dowling said he would approach Shannon Development with the proposal.
It was stated at the meeting that In the present economic climate, it would make sense that Shannon Development would hand over the building to the museum, to provide it with much needed additional storage space.
“The National Museum has masses of artefacts in storage, many with particular relevance to Limerick, which our museum could show off to advantage if they had the additional space. This would be a boon and would give Shannon Development and the museum an opportunity to promote the city by attracting more visitors to this lovely historic location overlooking the river”.
It was also stated that with the advantage of a nearby cafe and a green lawn area opposite the Curragower Falls, a new boardwalk currently being built and due for completion in March, the potential would be there to attract more visitors to the museum and the castle.
Shannon Development, it was said, is supported by taxpayers money and should be living up to its function to promote the city, and there should be no cost levied on the council for this.
