Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his questions and comments. As for the National Museum of Ireland, we engage with all national cultural institutions to ensure they have adequate resources for their needs. Project Ireland 2040 includes €85 million for the National Museum of Ireland, which is quite significant and will be a key support. We have also provided support for county museums and key organisations such as the Hunt Museum, the Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum in Limerick, Marsh's Library and the Butter Museum in Cork. The Heritage Council also runs the museum standards programme, which funds local museums to help them get up to standard. I recognise that it can be a difficult issue. We are also funding digitisation projects as well. In an ideal world we would have a bigger budget for any national cultural institution. However, this year I allocated a significant amount of money and we hope that the €85 million in Project Ireland 2040 will help realise a significant difference for the National Museum of Ireland in the future.