It most certainly is, Minister. It's one I've been following with interest (as Derailed had observed!). I am aware that several organisations and many individuals with various expertise or at the very least a sympathetic interest, have been lobbying Derry City Council for tests, to no avail.
Many years ago, I had dealings with one gentleman in DCC in relation to an RPSI matter and I quickly got the impression he was a lone voice of reason within; but he has long gone.
The stark reality here, as I pointed out on IRN, is that museums cost money to run (ask DCDR, Donegal, RPSI or UFTM; none of which, incidentally, is in a position to directly assist), and no official body either has it, wants to part with it, or both. Even in Britain where they have twelve times our population and a much greater net worth per head, some heritage organisations have struggled for decades to become viable visitor attractions. Look, for example, at the erstwhile Welsh Highland Railway (1964) Ltd.!
There's no substitute for a lot of volunteers turning up week after week, year after year, decade after decade, giving all their spare time and not a little of their own cash, to get these things going. Derry just doesn't seem to have the critical mass.
What needs to happen in the long run in both Derry and, as another story, Tralee, is that the local authorities concerned hand these things over to volunteers. Until and unless they do, they'll get no volunteers, partly because they wouldn't be welcome, partly because nobody in their right mind would take orders or direction from a local authority without being paid!
No volunteers means either shutters and locks, or a wage bill for the local authority. Which means significant financial cost - which means local councillors, especially in these times, will seek to cut costs.
So - let's hope imminent storage is at least vandal-proof. That's the best short term outcome, seriously imperfect though it is. Then, maybe - just maybe - lobbying by the general enthusiast community might persuade the relevant bodies to just hand the lot over to a suitable organisation. This, incidentally, applies equally and almost as a mirror image in Tralee, where local authority involvement has completely banjaxed what could have been a great visitor attraction.
Funding isn't easy now either. The days of free grant money are gone. Organisations usually have put up match funding of their own. If you've a three mile railway, like in Derry, and it costs say £1million sterling to do the whole railway and loco and so on, who on earth will cough up the half million to match the grant?
That's the problem. It's not easy.