The Five Demands

Free Derry Museum ‘at serious risk’ (UTV)

A £2m expansion at a Londonderry museum is under threat because the Enterprise Minister hasn’t signed off on a grant from the Tourist Board.

Organisers of the Museum of Free Derry say if Arlene Foster doesn’t approve the £1.2m funding soon, the entire project could fall.

So far more than half of the money has come from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, while some has been pledged from the Department of Social Development and the Lottery.

“Each of those bodies passed the application as viable,” said Conal McFeely from the Bloody Sunday Trust, which runs the museum based in the nationalist Bogside district.

“We feel we’ve gone through the due process and we’ve passed that due process in line with the criteria that was used. We believe at this stage that this project is at serious risk, but maybe more important than that, we see it as part of building a shared future.”

A key aspect of the problem faced by the museum is that funding comes from three different sources and if just one fails to materialise, the entire package could collapse.

Time is running out as the Heritage Lottery offer runs out at the end of this month.

The cash from the Tourist Board has yet to be signed off by DUP minister Ms Foster, but her department says it cannot disclose where in the approvals process this project currently sits.

Those behind the museum now want a face-to-face meeting with the minister.