Events are also being held in the Irish Embassy in London and in the Eenrest Shackleton ancestral home at Kilkea House near Athy to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the explorer’s birth in Kildare on 15 February 1874.
Ernest Shackleton’s polar medal has been valued at €2m and is up for sale. There are hopes it will be restored to the Shackleton visitor centre in Athy.
Kevin Kenny of Shackleton Museum in Athy, Co Kildare, said: “the real value is as an inspiring and historic artefact and the best place for this is on public display, with the Shackleton Museum being its natural home. It’s just a matter of the Irish State making the small investment needed”.
