Background to the Project: First steps… – The Museum of Childhood Ireland

On the 23rd of July 2025, Radio Presenter and Producer at Near FM, Paula Wiseman will be chatting with Majella McAllister from the Museum of Childhood Ireland, Músaem Óige na hÉireann about the Museum, its origins, where it is at now and all of the different events they have going on at www.museumofchildhood.ie We will add a link to the podcast here.

The Museum of Childhood Ireland Músaem Óige na hÉireann (MCI), Charity number: 20205452, Company Ltd by guarantee (accounts publicly accessible*) is an Islandwide multi-award winning inter-generational museum with an important collection of over 30,000 artefacts of material childhood culture. The museum has a superb social media following too with 37,000+ Followers on Facebook alone.

It began its journey, as all the best stories do, with very small steps. The museum project was interested in exploring the reuse of a beloved, vacant Carnegie Library and adjacent commercial buildings, in Dún Laoghaire, as the museum of childhood. To raise awareness of, and for an initial funding stream (no Capital fundraising was initiated at this time) a hugely successful, vibrant little second-hand book and bric-a-brac shop business was opened in Dúnlaoghaire, in what had been the wonderful Doyle family’s shop. The shop, rented from Doyle’s on a 5 year lease, was Dúnlaoghaires’s first ever and much loved community book shop. Being a welcoming, well organised, well stocked, inviting space ( spotlessly clean – tea was served in China tea cups and fresh flowers featured on the reading tables!) it settled down to provide full-time work for one paid employee, James Farrell ( all other staff were volunteers.)

It provided free weekly creative writing /art / other classes and literary events for children/ teenagers / adults in the community. It also provided a Toy Library, museum office / HQ/storage), and a free annual whole-town Event Day during Heritage Week each year, funded solely by the shop.

Excellently managed in a completely voluntary/non-expensed capacity by Majella McAllister, it provided all funds required for the early development phase, insurance, public liabilty, development and operational costs of the museum.

We will always be very grateful to the people of Dúnlaoghaire, through the shop’s support, for supporting the early development of this highly ambitious museum project for Ireland, and for helping us progress the museum mission: To ensure a museum dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of childhood Past to Present; ensuring that all children across Ireland are “Front and Centre,” that they are ‘Seen and Heard“.

Read all about the museum and the incredible work it has continued throughout the years on the website link below (warning-there is a lot! The museum team are a dedicated and hardworking voluntary, non-expensed group) https://museumofchildhood.ie/meet-the-museum-board/ https://museumofchildhood.ie/meet-the-museum-team-2/

Welcome / Fáilte!

Conor Woods and Robert O’Riordain of Woods & Partners https://woodspartners.ie/ were the accountants for Eduventure/Piggybank Shop for the MCI. Charity number: 20205452. Museum of Childhood Ireland has, from the outset, had strict child safeguarding and robust Governance , accountability measures in place, including a dedicated Governance officer, HR personnel, and policies: https://museumofchildhood.ie/governance/

Mol an Óige…