Minister turns sod for Collon military museum
Jimmy Deenihan, Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, has turned the first sod on the Irish Military Park and Museum at Starinagh, Collon. The project was conceived by William Sullivan, a farmer/entrepreneur and a lifelong collector of military memorabilia. Mr Sullivan has decided to create a rural tourism project out of his collection.
On 14th May, he was awarded the JFC Innovation Award for Rural Tourism, in association with Teagasc and the Farmers Journal.
Minister Deenihan said: “I am delighted to have been invited to turn the sod on the Irish Military Park Project. As Minister with responsibility for the Decade of Commemorations, I have been constantly impressed at the level of enthusiasm for and interest in military history in Ireland.”
The Minister went on: “Today we see how William Sullivan is using his life-long passion for military history to create jobs and to drive interest in our heritage, and it is great to think that this collection will very soon be available for everyone to see, thanks in no small part to Sean’s hard work. History comes to life when you can get up-close with artefacts and vehicles that were part of it.”
The Irish Military Park is a project designed over a five-year plan: initially a museum will be built to house and display Mr Sullivan’s collection, scheduled to open in April 2014 with a children’s playground and coffee shop facilities. The site, which covers an area in excess of twenty acres, will be developed over five years and will create a new tourism facility for visitors to the area.