WITH only one story in the mouths and minds of people across the county today, Limerick Post reporter Andrew Clair took to O’Connell Street to find out what the people of the Treaty City had to say about the shock announcement of the closure of the International Rugby Experience (IRE) later this year.
The announcement of the landmark tourist attraction’s closure comes just 16 months after its grand opening in May 2023.
As announced in April of this year, the IRE was to be gifted to Limerick City and County Council and the people of Limerick, however a statement from the attraction’s operators this Thursday confirmed that the handover process had reached an impasse.
“I think it’s the biggest scandal in Limerick City of all time,” Michael O’Connell, of Mike O’Connell Menswear told the Limerick Post today.
The local businessowner said that the announcement marked “a sad day for Limerick and a sad day for the McManus family”, who made the initial €30million investment in the skyline-defining city building.
Mr O’Connell said that the IRE should have been for Limerick what the Titanic museum has become for Belfast.
Another Limerick local, David Walsh, lamented the loss of another business in the heart of the city, saying that “there’s very, very few businesses in the city apart from coffee shops … They’ve all moved out to the outskirts.”
He said that the IRE was a “magnificent building” and that, “in spite of what I’ve read on comments on Facebook, I think people just don’t see the beauty in a new, modern architectural building”.
One woman, who asked not to be named, said she feared the IRE would become another on of “too many buildings left empty” in the city. She hit out at parking costs in the city centre as driving away footfall in favour of shopping centres outside the city with free parking options.
Another man, Charlie Pitcher, was taken aback when the news was put to him by the Limerick Post.
“I’m shocked. It’s shocking,” he said, noting he would “need to go to the pub tonight” after hearing the news.
Another Limerick man, Richard Lynch, suggested that the placement of the IRE in the heart of the city was “a mad decision” to begin with, suggesting that the attraction should have been located at Thomond Park, the home of Munster Rugby. He also suggested the IRE’s singular rugby focus as a factor in its lack of success.
“I’m sorry to see it go, but I think it was totally in the wrong place,” he said.
Amid the frustration, many stood by the decision by the JP McManus Charitable Foundation to shutter the IRE, owned by billionaire horse racing mogul JP McManus.
One man said that “JP (McManus) is a great man for Limerick … It obviously wasn’t just the right time or the right place for it”.
