Athlone space centre plan 'paused' after Just Transition grant refusal

A plan to develop a "one-of-a-kind" National Space Exploration Centre in Monksland has been put on hold after efforts to secure EU Just Transition funding for the facility, through Fáile Ireland, were unsuccessful.

The proposed centre was designed to cater for both educational and recreational visitors and was devised by Metaversal Ltd, a company directed by Richie O'Hara Sr and Richie O'Hara Jr of Baysports in Hodson Bay.

In July of last year, Roscommon County Council granted planning approval for the centre, which was earmarked for a unit at Westpoint Retail Park in Monksland.

The plans for the centre included an interactive space museum, a virtual reality space mission experience, an auditorium area for children, young people and adults, and a café and merchandising store.

Some €3.6 million in Just Transition funding had been sought for the development of the visitor attraction. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week, Richie O'Hara Jr said Fáilte Ireland turned down the funding application earlier this summer.

"We put a lot of investment into it ourselves," he said. "We believe it's a strong concept and that it could really stand to benefit the locality, given that it doesn't yet exist in the country, and given the fact that Athlone, while it has indoor leisure facilities, doesn't really have anything of that educational and technological nature."

He said the delivery of the centre in its current form was dependent on Just Transition funding, but Fáilte Ireland gave notification in June that the application was unsuccessful.

"As far as I'm concerned, the project at the moment is paused," he said. "It's definitely something that I personally would have a great interest in pursuing, and, in-house, there is still a lot of belief around the concept.

"But the project in its current state was reliant on getting that funding from Fáilte Ireland."

Richie, who recently launched his own clothing brand, Luain Clothing, said the funding refusal was disappointing given the amount of time and resources that had been put into the project, and the fact that it had obtained planning permission.

"At the same time, I'm a believer in the old saying, what's for you won't pass you. Fáilte Ireland did give us a justification (for the funding refusal) and we can take a lot of learnings from that.

"I would be optimistic and hopeful that at some time in the future - and I couldn't say how far into the future - it is a project I would like to revisit. The team here feel that there is still a good bit of promise to it.

"We are in the tourism and visitor attraction space, and we feel that, because of our track record, we could make something really good, really remarkable, that would hopefully drive more visitors to the area. That's what we're about," he added.