Louth County Council proud of professional standards certification for County Museum

 Louth County Council are proud to have renewed their museum maintenance accreditation for the County Museum Dundalk (CMD), accepted on their behalf by Cathaoirleach Cllr Conor Keelan on Wednesday 13th July in Kilkenny Castle. Established by the Heritage Council, the Museum’s Standards Programme for Ireland (MSPI) certificate, aims to benchmark and drive professional standards in care for collections across Irish museums and galleries.

The County Museum was awarded the maintenance standard in recognition of its continued excellence in the daily operations of the facility after achieving the MSPI Interim Accreditation Certificate in 2013 and Full Accreditation Certificate in 2016. The County Museum is one of 61 Irish museums to be included in MSPI and one of only 32 participants to have achieved the Maintenance of Full Accreditation Certificate, a process which can take 5 years or more to achieve.

Brian Walsh, Curator at the County Museum, Dundalk, said: “In this museum, we are exceptionally proud of the wide range of quality items we have on display. They allow us to illustrate the lives of our parents, grandparents, and those who came before us.  This is an extremely rewarding aspect of our work and we look to every opportunity to share these tales with our visitors – in-person and through social media. Our ability to maintain our existing standards despite the effects of the pandemic is a testament to the hard work that occurs behind the scenes between management and staff, and we are immensely proud of this accomplishment.”

The Full Accreditation requires the fulfilment of 35 standards covering all aspects of museum operation, ranging from policies to collection management and education programmes to visitor care. Participants in the MSPI programme include a wide range of national, cultural institutions, local authority, private, university, co-operative and small volunteer-run museums.

Louth County Council wishes to remind citizens that the County Museum is open for the public to enjoy.