Ms Lynn Scarff:

I will address the Chairman's question about digitisation, which is crucial work. The National Museum of Ireland is currently working on it. We are entering into the second phase of an inventory project and following on from that there will be the digitisation of the collection. I sometimes think there is not much knowledge of the extent of resources needed to digitise a collection. People often think it is merely a photograph. As the Chairman would be aware, by the time the data and metadata are recorded so an item can be accessible for all, wherever they are, significant resources are needed. Our national collection is outstanding and includes some of the best collections globally, in certain areas, and should be accessible from anywhere in the world. The areas with which we struggle most in terms of digitisation - this may sound like a broken record - is capacity, resources and having the right kind of people and expertise within the team of the National Museum on a sustainable basis. Digitisation of collections often comes to us through a capital allocation which presents difficulties relating to staffing and resources, as the committee has heard. I thank the Chairman for asking that question to bring it to the committee's notice.

The Chairman mentioned people in local communities and objects they have. One of the most successful projects on which we have been working recently, which I mentioned in my opening statement, is the Irish Community Archive Network, iCAN, project, which is supported by Creative Ireland. The website where people can upload those experiences is www.ouririshheritage.org. Our keeper, Ms Sikora, her colleagues and many of our colleagues in the National Museum of Ireland regularly answer questions from the public who say that a relative donated an item and we are able to find it. The chair of our board recently came with her family to see a duck that they donated to the Natural History Museum. It is important for people to know that when those objects are donated to our collection, we take great care of them. We will respond to those kinds of requests.