Mr. Liam Bradley:

The Chairman made a point about the challenges of setting up new museums and convincing people to loan and donate objects. There is always a challenge working with people to get them to give their objects or images which are important to the family. It is sometimes a long-term discussion with family members.

A number of years can pass before they come back and give an answer one way or the other. The answer may be "No" or it may be "Yes". Sometimes an item is bequeathed to us after someone has passed away because we spoke to that person a decade previously and he or she considered the matter thereafter. This long process is worthwhile. The regional museums that participate in the local authority museum network are aware of the collections that are out there. We know who has certain items in attics and basements. While the costs involved can be prohibitive at times, we would like the network of local authority museums to grow so that they become county museums. Obviously, there are many museums with various focuses. County museums are unique because they tell the stories of their regions. As their remit is not confined to specific collections, they are much more open and much more able to take in everything and anything. We take in things from County Monaghan and things that have very tenuous links to the county but are part of the county's story nonetheless. We believe there is a need for more local authority museums. It is something that we will be looking at in our own plan. We will consider how we can advocate for that with other local authorities. We have spoken to a number of local authorities that have looked into this. We will continue to support them. I believe that if we do not maintain our efforts, collections and stories will be lost.

The museum in County Monaghan has a number of replicas of objects relating to the county that are in the national museum. There are ways around the difficulties that can arise in this regard. While it can be costly to do replicas, there are benefits when children and others can come in and see them. The Tydavnet sun discs, which were discovered in County Monaghan, are the emblem of the national museum. People are very aware of them because they are the largest gold discs in the country. They want to see them. If they are unable to see them in Dublin, they can see replicas of them in Monaghan. If we cannot get an exact object, there are ways around that. I ask my colleague, Ms McCarthy, to respond to the questions that were asked about digitisation in the context of the regional museums.