Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I think we are a visually illiterate country. I do not mean that with regard to great paintings, but about where we live, what buildings we put up and what we think look like nice houses. We are appalling with regard to where we ask people to actually survive for their lives or even where they live when they get old. We have no proper architecture at all. It is all half-copied. Ms McHugh has a huge opportunity and am delighted to hear her remark - my colleague suggested it here - that the gallery will reach out. A symphony can play all it likes in a concert hall, but if nobody hears it, it should come out and play. The Crawford Art Gallery can encourage people in. I refer to people like those in men's sheds, which is an extraordinary organisation and full of artists who might not have had the opportunity-----