Ms Catherine Heaney:

I will start and bring Ms Scarff in because she will have some points to make on that. When the Senator's party colleague was Minister with responsibility for this Department, one of her mantras was getting the collection out of Dublin. She was passionate about that and, in many ways, that is why the National Museum of Ireland signed up to museum accreditation programme, which Ms Scarff mentioned. It is operated by the Heritage Council but it is part of creating common standards across all museums, so that where conditions are optimal for loaning out items, whether it is Michael Collins's slippers going to Cork or whatever, there is a set of standards throughout the museum sector that ensure collections are cared for when that happens.

Sometimes it is not about building new buildings but it is about using spaces better. On this topic of the inclusive museum, what does it look like? Is it bricks and mortar or is it something else? Is it objects in schools, libraries or other public spaces? There is something important there that we must think about. This relates to Senator's Carrigy's point about bringing kids into the museum. When I put my name forward to serve on the board of the museum, one of my motivations was to change the queue that was going to Blanchardstown shopping centre on a Sunday and to have it going to the museum instead. There is opportunity there about how we display our collections and about the whole digital agenda and how we digitise and make our collections available. You can have digital content alongside one or two artefacts. People like to touch and feel items, even if they are reproductions. This relates to our vision for the sector, as Dr. Whitty said, and to having this national strategy and vision. There is opportunity there. We just have to look a bit harder and work together more.