National Centre

The National Centre for Research and Remembrance will stand as a site of conscience to honour equally all those who were resident in Industrial Schools, Magdalen Laundries, Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions, Reformatories, and related institutions.

The National Centre will stand as part of our national institutions and will comprise:

• a museum and exhibition space, the development of which will be led by the National Museum of Ireland;
• a repository of records related to institutional trauma in the 20th century, which will form part of the National Archives; and
• a garden space for reflection and remembrance.

The National Centre campus will also make a valuable contribution to the social and economic development of Dublin’s North East Inner City, through the provision of social housing units, further and higher educational facilities, and facilities for family and parenting supports.

The National Centre campus will, by design both document and recognise the disadvantage experienced by vulnerable women and children in the past and represent an active commitment to tackling disadvantage in the present day.

The National Centre for Research and Remembrance will be located on Seán MacDermott Street in Dublin 1.

A Steering Group - chaired by the former Secretary General to the Government and current Ambassador of Ireland to Great Britain, Mr Martin Fraser - is driving the work on the development of the National Centre for Research and Remembrance.

In addition to the chairperson, the composition of the Steering Group is as follows:

• Four survivor representatives
• Special Advocate for Survivors
• Department of Children, Disability and Equality
• Department of An Taoiseach
• Office of Public Works
• Department of Culture, Communications and Sport
• National Archives of Ireland
• National Museum of Ireland
• Department of Education and Youth
• Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
• Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage
• Dublin City Council
• North East Inner City Initiative
• Work on the development of the museum and exhibition space is being led by the National Museum of Ireland, while work on the repository of records related to institutional trauma in the 20th century, is being led by the National Archives.

The development of the wider National Centre campus facilities is being led by the following:

• Education Facility: Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science alongside City of Dublin Education and Training Board (ETB) and Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin)
• Family and Parenting Support Facilities: National College of Ireland’s Early Learning Initiative
• Disability Friendly Social Housing: Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Dublin City Council.

The Steering Group recognises the fundamental importance of survivors and affected people being partners in the project who are at the heart of decision-making and involved at every level of implementation. Following an initial, written consultation that ran from July-September 2023, the Steering Group was expanded to include the Special Advocate for Survivors.

The Steering Group has been further expanded to include four survivor representatives. This is a direct response to the feedback received from a series of in-person engagement events that were held in Dublin, Galway, Cork and London, as well as an online event, between October 2024 and February 2025.

Survivors and affected persons are invited on an ongoing basis to join the National Museum of Ireland’s Lived Experience expert panels which will contribute to shaping the development of the National Centre museum[NM1] .

An expression of interest process for the positions on the steering group ran during August and September 2025. The invitation to become a member of the National Museum’s Lived Experience Expert Panel remains open indefinitely. If you are interested in joining the Museum’s Lived Experience Expert Panels, or have any questions or feedback, we welcome you to contact museum staff at ncrr@museum.ie

Survivors and affected persons will also be invited to apply via a public process (www.stateboards.ie) to sit on the National Archives Advisory Council. This is a body established under the National Archives Act to advise the Minister on all archival matters. This process will open for applications in the coming weeks.

A number of consultations have taken place with survivors and affected people, their families and advocates.

An initial written consultation ran from July to September 2023. Almost 220 responses were received, and an independent research company analysed these responses and prepared a detailed report. The report is available to view here and a summary of the infographic is available here.

One of the key commitments arising from the initial consultation was that in-person events would be held so that survivors and affected persons, and their family members and advocates, could hear about and give feedback on the National Centre.

Events took place in Dublin on 22 October 2024, Galway on 14 November 2024, Cork on 19 November 2024, online on 19 February 2025 and London on 25 February 2025. Attendees at these events heard about plans for the buildings on the National Centre site, work to date on the development of the archival repository, and examples of other survivor-led exhibition and memorialisation spaces. Attendees also had an opportunity to participate in discussions about what they would like to see contained in the National Centre.

Feedback was received from attendees in a number of ways including in person and via written feedback cards at the events, and through follow-up communications from attendees to the organisations involved, such as the National Museum, the National Archives and the Special Advocate’s Office.

This feedback has been captured in a report prepared by the Special Advocate’s Office, with detailed feedback- in survivor’s own words- arranged in seven key themes. The feedback report is available to view here. The Steering Group reviewed this report and committed to actions to address each theme to help inform the ongoing work on the National Centre, and future engagement efforts. The Steering Group’s response document and a summary infographic are available to view here.

Further consultations and engagement, on other specific elements of the Centre will take place in due course.

Dublin City Council, which is represented on the Steering Group, ran a local community information day on the Sean MacDermott Street site in July 2024 and held a follow-up information day in July 2025. The aim of these events was to ensure that interested people in the local community had an opportunity to hear about plans, including in relation to the provision of further and higher education and of community-based family and parenting supports on the site.

A briefing to the North East Inner City Initiative’s Project Implementation Board (PIB) and subgroups took place in March 2025. The aim of the briefing was to provide information on progress to date on the project and on the services which will be provided on the National Centre campus.

Further engagement will take place with the local community as the project progresses.

The National Centre Campus, alongside the main museum and archive, will comprise:

• social housing, configured to universal design standards and appropriate for older persons and persons with disabilities;
• the development of a lifelong learning hub for the provision of further and higher education and;
• facilities for the provision of community-based family and parenting supports.

These elements will make a valuable contribution to the social and economic development of Dublin’s North East Inner City.