Monaghan Town

Monaghan County Museum Regains Full National Accreditation After Peace Campus Move

The museum meets all 34 Museum Standards Programme for Ireland benchmarks again, after reapplying following its move into the Peace Campus with the library and youth services.

Published 12 Oct, 19:53 · 2 min read

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Church Square and St Patrick’s Church in Monaghan town — Church Square, Monaghan Town, 2010. Archive location photograph. Jacobethan86 · Public domain. Resized; cropped in layout.

Monaghan County Museum has regained Full Accreditation under the Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI), the Heritage Council's national benchmark for how museums look after collections, welcome visitors and run themselves. The award was confirmed at a ceremony in Croke Park on Sunday, 28 September, and Monaghan County Council published the news locally in early October.

The museum first became Fully Accredited in 2008, when it was the first local authority museum in the State to reach that mark. After the move into the new Peace Campus in Monaghan Town, it had to reapply and show that the same standards still hold in the new building. Assessors found that they do.

What Full Accreditation means

MSPI was set up by the Heritage Council in 2007. Museums that want Full Accreditation have to meet each of 34 internationally recognised standards covering visitor services, collections care and governance. The Irish Museums Association reported that Monaghan County Museum was one of only three museums to receive Full Accreditation at this year's awards, alongside Glenveagh Castle Museum in Donegal and Photo Museum Ireland in Dublin. Sixteen museums in all were recognised on the night, including others that kept Interim Accreditation or maintained an existing status.

According to the council's own statement, the assessors were impressed with the knowledge and involvement of staff across policies, exhibitions and education, and singled out aspects of collection management as exemplary. They also noted plans for the museum's future development in its new home.

A flagship service in a new building

Cathaoirleach Cllr Aidan Campbell said the museum has served Monaghan and the wider border region for more than 50 years, and called Full Accreditation an honour that reflects sustained commitment under curator Liam Bradley and the whole museum team. Chief Executive Robert Burns said achieving the standard again "in the midst of this enormous strategic development" showed the team's dedication during the move to the Peace Campus.

Mr Bradley described the Peace Campus as "a dream given form": a multicultural space that also houses the library service, Foróige youth services and other community programmes. Full Accreditation, he said, gives the museum "the strategic and professional impetus to step forward into the future of the service".

Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Biodiversity Christopher O'Sullivan TD, speaking at the national ceremony, said MSPI strengthens the sector by promoting high standards in caring for collections, engaging visitors and governance, and congratulated museum teams around the country.

Monaghan County Museum is based at the Peace Campus in Monaghan Town. Opening times and exhibition details are on the council's museum pages.

Sources

This article is an original summary based on the following reporting. We encourage readers to visit the original sources for full coverage.

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