Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

If the consultation process concludes in March 2015, it will probably take another two months to study the submissions and produce a report, which would bring us to May 2015. That would leave only nine months or thereabouts before the start of the commemorations. Even modest events organised at local level require a decent lead-in time. This timeframe imposes limits on what can be achieved.

The Minister responded to my comments on the National Archives. While it is one thing to have a capital project, specialist personnel are also needed in the National Library of Ireland, the National Archives and the National Museum of Ireland. The Minister has referred to the case of New Orleans and the economic return the city generates from culture and the arts. The national cultural institutions exist on oxygen because their funding has been cut to the bone. They are at risk and this should be acknowledged.