Saturday 20 July 2013

GRO's relocation is a 'temporary' one, we're to believe

The Irish Times has taken up the sorry tale of the GRO Research Room's move to Werburgh Street, in a feature published today. (The story was published on this blog on Wednesday afternoon, see here.)

It doesn't add a lot that's new, except that the relocation appears to be being dressed up by the Office of Public Works (OPW) as a temporary one. So we're to believe the Werburgh Street move is 'until more suitable accommodation is identified in the long term', are we?

This can be interpreted as 'the Research Room has been found accommodation so it's been crossed off our to-do list'.

Remember the Research Room's former home at Joyce House, Lombard Street? The accommodation scored at the highest level on the Grotty Index. It was unhealthy (did those radiators EVER turn off), and totally inadequate in size for the demand it faced. It was, frankly, embarrassing to see members of the diaspora subjected to this first hand experience of public service in Ireland. How many years was this deemed acceptable before its late-2007 move to the Irish Life Centre? How long did it take for the need for relocation to rise to the top of the OPW's list?

UPDATE 13 September: Move has still not happened. See blogpost.