NEGOTIATIONS ARE ONGOING on the future of the ESB-owned Number 29 Georgian House Museum, but there are no plans to close the building.

That is according to an ESB spokesperson, who told TheJournal.ie that an online petition calling for the museum not to be closed was misinformed as at this point there are no plans to close the building.

The petition closed yesterday and called for the ESB to “keep the museum open as it is”.

Number 29 Fitzwilliam Street Lower was first occupied in 1794 by Olivia Beatty, who lived there until 1806, when the lease was taken up by banker Ponsonby Shaw. The ESB first used the building in 1928, the year after the board was set up, and was used as an office until 1980.

The ESB committed to restore the building – as well as nine other houses on Fitzwilliam Street Lower and Mount Street Upper – in 1988, when it was given permission to build office blocks facing James Street East and Baggot Street.

In 1991, the exhibition at Number 29 opened, and it is now run by the ESB in association with the National Museum of Ireland.

According to the ESB, currently there are some negotiations with staff in respect to reducing the costs of running the  museum. But the spokesperson said that there “are no plans to close the museum”.

It is believed the changes, which have not yet been decided upon, could include reduced opening hours.

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