Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. McVey. I wish him well in his role. I thank Dr. Collins for her immense work over the past six years. On the points made on digitisation and archival material, we all know how important these aspects are. Looking at items that have been posted today, it was fantastic to see an illustrated work on the universe and material on the arrest of Charles Stewart Parnell and others for Land League activities. This material is such an asset for the country.

Staffing is an issue we need to drill down into. The national libraries in Scotland and Wales each have nearly 200 more members of staff than the national library here. Scotland and Wales are comparable to Ireland in size. Mr. McVey touched on IT and digitisation. In the libraries in Scotland and Wales, what are the additional staff delegated to tackle that is simply not being tackled here?

Regarding the cutbacks suffered and the rebuilding process, what areas fell down owing to the letting go of staff when Mr. McVey was on the audit committee from 2015 on? If we are to contact the Minister, we need to be very specific about what we are trying to assist with. Two hundred additional members of staff in the libraries in Scotland and Wales is a huge number. If there were a significant increase for the National Library of Ireland, could its scope be expanded? What additional work, such as outreach work, is being done in Scotland and Wales with their large numbers of staff?