The Louth County Museum in Dundalk is amongst five museums to have been awarded interim accreditation by the Heritage Council under the Museum Standards Programme for Ireland at a ceremony in Dublin Castle.
Speaking about the Programme, Michael Starrett, Heritage Council Chief Executive said, “This is an important initiative, which sets out to improve all aspects of Ireland’s museum practice and in particular raise the standards of care for collections across Irish museums and galleries.
“Accreditation under this Programme offers quality assurance to visitors that the museums they are visiting are adhering to a high set of standards in the management of the museum, care of collections and visitor services. In tough economic times, where visitor numbers are crucial to the viability of many attractions, the value to the museum and local area of this Programme cannot be underestimated”, added Mr. Starrett.
The Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI) aims to benchmark and raise professional minimum standards in the museum sector. Within the Programme, there are seven categories consisting of 34 standards, 25 of which are interim standards and nine are full. A voluntary programme, it has attracted involvement from across the cultural spectrum — from national institutions to small, volunteer-led organisations.
An application for interim accreditation takes three years to complete, while full accreditation takes five years. There are a total of 47 museums currently participating in the Programme, with seven museums fully accredited and seven museums now at interim accreditation.
Along with the local museum, the GAA Museum, the South Tipperary County Museum, the Limerick City Gallery of Art and the Cavan County Museum have also been awarded interim accreditation.
