The award-winning six-storey visitor attraction on Limerick’s O’Connell Street was built through a €30 million gift from the JP McManus Foundation.

Reliable sources said an apology was offered to Mr McManus and his family at the closed meeting, but that the gift was no longer on the table “as things stand” however it could yet be salvaged, they said.

Billionaire JP McManus owns the building, which employs around 50 people