BUSINESSMAN JP MCMANUS is to address the Mayor of Limerick and elected representatives at a closed-door meeting at Limerick City and County Council headquarters next week.

The group will discuss why the council’s controversial decision to decline his ‘gift’ of the €30m International Rugby Experience building on O’Connell Street in Limerick City as well as €1.2m in operating costs.

It is understood that McManus hopes to set the record straight over costs associated with the charitable venture, which fell through over a difference of opinion between them around the costs of operating the building.

The building, built to honour rugby, was launched by a host of rugby stars in 2023 and has been gathering dust since its shock closure last December. Fifty people were employed at the International Rugby Experience.

It delivered an estimated €7.8m boost to the local economy and received 60,000 visitors in the 12 months that it was open. McManus, who secured the 2027 Ryder Cup for Limerick at his five-star Adare Manor Hotel, is to address the council on Thursday.

Mayor of Limerick John Moran, senior executives and elected representatives will be in attendance. Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea has been critical of the council’s decision to decline McManus’s “generous offer”.

He said: “The gift horse is still there and the council is still looking at it in the mouth.”

“My view is that it is a fantastic facility for Limerick and certain commitments were made by the council,” he said. “It seems to me they weren’t honoured. It’s a tragedy to see it closed down now.”

Labour councillor Joe Leddin argued that while he accepted the council executive and Moran had concerns about the future cost of running the building, the planned meeting with McManus on Thursday was a “welcome” development.

He said: “To be fair to JP, he expended €30million+ on the acquisition of the old building, the design and rebuild and operations, and it’s unfortunate now to see the facility closed in the heart of the city.”

The International Rugby Experience was offered to the council last May as a “debt-free gift”. It was proposed that the council would continue running the exhibition until 2028 and then, if it wished, the local authority could take control of the building for civic purposes.

An agreement was reached in March 2024 with the local authority when the Head of Terms were signed by both parties, the International Rugby Experience claims. However, it was “unable to advance” the deal and the building closed.

In response, Limerick City Council said it was “disappointed” with the International Rugby Experience’s decision to close its doors and argued that it had made “very effort” to secure the deal.

It added that it was “unable to secure a viable path forward” after finding it would have had to find “substantial operational and capital funding” to continue the project. 

Chief executive of the experience Barry Hannon has claimed that the figures presented to councillors were “over inflated”.

Moran had offered to use €300,000 from the Mayoral fund to keep the building open, but the offer was rejected. McManus will address councillors about his disappointment at how the deal has turned sour, it is understood.