Ms Beatrice Kelly:

I thank the Deputy for that question. I want to make it clear that I am not necessarily lobbying for legislation on this but there is a void or a lack of policy framework around museums in general. Any of us could literally set ourselves up as museums if we were to so choose. The definition of a museum takes into account the educational side, the collecting side, the care side and the research side. That is such long-term care for the public good. If there was a policy framework, it could possibly be developed through some of the initiatives the Government has introduced such as Heritage 2030 and even Culture 2025. There are areas where we could have a definition of a museum that is recognised on a State basis rather than our necessarily needing more legislation.