Tipperary museum maintains top national award from the Heritage Council

13 museums were celebrated at a ceremony in Kilkenny Castle yesterday having achieved official accreditation under the Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI).

Established to promote professional standards in museums, selection under the MSPI is a major accolade with accredited museums considered to have attained excellence across a range of areas.

Factors taken into account during the assessment process include how museums care for their collections and visitors, as well as governance and management standards, and their education and exhibition programmes.

Since its inception in 2006, the Irish museum sector has continued to embrace the programme with participation growing from 12 museum sites to 73 in 2023.

Among the museums maintaining full accreditation was the Tipperary Museum of Hidden History. The assessors noted in particular the great work done on the redevelopment of the main museum gallery.

Much care and attention has been given to how the visitor can see, interact with and learn from the collection and the local history. In a relatively small space, assessors were impressed by the amount of interpretation and artefacts out on display.

Despite the challenges of the redevelopment and subsequent closure due to Covid, the curator Marie McMahon and museum staff have worked hard to engage their Council colleagues and local community in a creative and innovative way.

Commenting at the ceremony, Chief Executive of the Heritage Council Virginia Teehan said: “As Ireland’s only accreditation programme for museums, MSPI has become an integral part of the sector. Seeing the variety of museums represented at the ceremony, along with the increase in participants year on year, further underline its importance.

“I am happy to say that the Heritage Council has committed in its new five-year strategy to making further improvements to the MSPI through increased funding, and through new training and professional development opportunities for the volunteers and the professionals who run our museums.”

Presenting the awards today, Council Member for the Heritage Council, Sheila Pratschke said: “It was a real privilege for me to be in Kilkenny Castle, another MSPI-accredited site, and to be able to personally congratulate all of this year’s award winners. I know how hard these museums have worked for their accreditation and are richly deserving of this recognition.”

Commenting at the ceremony, Chair Local Authority Museums Network and Managing Curator of Tipperary Museum Marie McMahon said: “The Heritage Council’s Museum Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI) has been transformative for the museum sector.

“It has raised our standards, introduced best practice and given museums a voice within the wider cultural sector. All Local Authority Museums have achieved either Interim, Full Accreditation and Maintenance of Accreditation and now have a framework of standards and policies that are embedded in their operations.

I would like to congratulate the museum teams from the following Local Authority Museums: Carlow County Museum, Tipperary Museum of Hidden History, Donegal County Museum  and Cork Public Museum.

Their continuous hard work and commitment to the MSPI, ensures our museums are operating at the highest standards in Ireland and across Europe.

Our network (L.A.M.N.) is a key advocacy for the museum sector and with our many partnerships, both nationally and locally, the stewardship of our national heritage and artefacts ensures we are safeguarding our cultural heritage for future generations.

I would like to commend the Tipperary Museum team past and present, Julia Walsh, Jayne Sutcliffe, Michael Fanning, Siobhan Wynne and David Nolan for their commitment to the programme. Also to the management of Tipperary County Council for their unrivalled support of Tipperary Museum.

Special thanks to Chief Executive of the Heritage Council, Virginia Teehan and Lesley Ann Hayden, Programme Manager for Museum Standards Programme for Ireland for their tremendous support of the Local Authority Museum Network.