Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 29 January 2015

Public Accounts Committee

Vote 33 - Department of the Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
Chapter 9 - Accounting for National Gallery of Ireland Expenditure
Financial Statements of the National Library 2012 and 2013

10:00 am

Ms Catherine Fahy:

I thank the Chairman and committee for inviting us today in regard to the 2012 and 2013 accounts of the National Library. Most people are familiar with their local libraries and libraries in the higher education sector. The National Library differs from these in that its statutory remit is to collect and preserve Ireland's documentary heritage for the benefit of the public. For that reason, it does not lend items and it seeks to keep whatever it acquires in perpetuity.

It was founded in 1877 and collects and makes available the shared memory of the Irish nation at home and abroad, caring for more than 10 million items, including books, newspapers, manuscripts, prints, drawings, ephemera, photographs and, increasingly, digital media. Its holdings range from 14th century Gaelic manuscripts to 21st century websites, from the papers of Yeats and Joyce to the writings of historic and contemporary political figures. It is also the guardian of personal histories in the form of archives of letters, photographs and diaries and family and local history sources, such as estate papers and parish registers. The office of the Chief Herald and the National Photographic Archive in Temple Bar are also part of the National Library.

The library today is faced with the challenge of collecting and preserving not only traditional print and manuscript media but also digital media. It must fulfil its duty to the public, which owns and pays for it, and contribute to the cultural and economic life of the nation by making its collections as accessible as possible in its reading rooms and exhibitions and also online.

It must fulfil its duty to the public which owns and pays for it and contribute to the cultural and economic life of the nation by making its collections as accessible as possible in its reading rooms and exhibitions, and also online. In this time of transition between paper and digital, it must continue to collect and evolve to meet the needs of new generations.

I will now turn to the issues of concern highlighted in the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General in our 2012 and 2013 accounts. In August 2013, library staff discovered the loss of certain items from the collections and reported the matter immediately to the Garda Síochána, the library board, and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. Detectives from the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation subsequently recovered a significant number of items believed to have been stolen. In November 2013, the media reported the arrest of a library employee in connection with the theft of material. The matter is still under investigation by the Garda Síochána. We are not in a position, therefore, to provide any further information lest it prejudice the investigation.

Following the discovery, the library took immediate steps to enhance security. For obvious security reasons, it would be ill-advised for us to disclose publicly specific details of these steps. However, I am happy to provide any members of the Committee of Public Accounts with a tour and overview of the library’s storage areas. The library requested both the Garda crime prevention unit and two internationally recognised library security experts to conduct security reviews. The library’s board and management have reviewed the resulting reports, and submitted these to the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Office of Public Works.

In regard to the studentships, in 2010 it was decided to run a special studentship programme to be paid from the annual grant. This built on the success of an existing studentship programme dating from 1998 and financed from own resources. The library did not believe that discrete sanction was required from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for the studentships awarded under the programme in 2011-12. The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht advised the library in September 2010 that as the studentship programme did not constitute recruitment, promotion or an acting appointment to a management or administrative grade or to any other grade within the public sector, and as the programme for Government included a commitment to promote internships, the programme could not be opposed.

The studentships ran through 2011 to 2012 and provided professional developmental opportunities in catalogue and software development, digital collections, reference services, manuscripts, outreach and marketing. Seven studentships, at €17,100 per annum, were advertised in each of 2010 and 2011 and one in 2012. Some 310 applications were received in all, and 15 studentships awarded, with periods of service varying from three to 17 months. The aim of the studentship programme was to resource additional library projects that did not fall within normal job descriptions and to provide excellent career enhancement experience for the studentship holders, all of whom, we understand, went on to secure employment. The cost of the special studentships programme in 2012 was €113,662, which represents excellent value for the public funding allocated to it by the library. All studentships and internships have had approval by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht since 1 January 2013.

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