Ms Deirdre Mahony:

I thank the committee for inviting us. I welcome the opportunity on behalf of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media to discuss this Private Members' Bill, and, in particular the elements that relate to the role and functions of the director of the National Museum of Ireland and the inclusion of artefacts in the national collections. I am the principal officer with responsibility for a number of our national cultural institutions, including the National Museum of Ireland. I am joined by my colleague, Ciara Moloney.

I recognise the positive policy intention behind this Bill, which, taking the lead from the success of the Dormant Accounts Fund, aims to provide a means whereby unclaimed property may be used for the benefit of our society. The Bill provides two ways of doing so, either by the disposal of unclaimed property or by the inclusion of previously unknown cultural or heritage assets in the national collections. Consideration of the disposal of unclaimed property has been addressed by my colleague from the Department of Rural and Community Development, while consideration of the role and implications for financial institutions has been addressed by my colleague from the Department of Finance. As I mentioned, this Department’s consideration relates, in the main, to the proposed role of the director of the National Museum of Ireland and the inclusion of artefacts in the national collections.

There are three main ways that heritage and cultural objects and artefacts can currently enter the national collections, namely, by donation, through acquisition or under the role set out for the National Museum of Ireland under the National Monuments Acts. Under the National Monuments Acts, the director of the National Museum of Ireland is empowered to assert the State’s ownership of archaeological objects that are found and which have no known owner, and the museum engages directly on these finds.

In terms of acquisition, the Department, working with the cultural institutions, has supported an expanding programme in recent years, which has seen significant acquisitions into the collections, including La Vie des Champsby Cézanne and Jack B. Yeat’s Bachelor's Walk, both at the National Gallery of Ireland. The National Museum, National Archives and National Library continue to augment the collections with carefully chosen objects and papers that expand and support our understanding of our national history, culture and heritage. Recent acquisitions of note include an important collection of Pearse papers at the museum, the Edna O’Brien papers at the library and, as members may have seen in the media, the Michael Collins diaries at the National Archives.

Although these significant acquisitions often make headlines, it should be noted that the national cultural institutions are constantly and consistently seeking out and securing important items of cultural or heritage significance, particularly, those that fill gaps in the collections. In that regard, I highlight the Department-funded acquisitions programme at the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Crawford Art Gallery, which explicitly seeks to enhance the contemporary art holdings of the national collections by ensuring they are more representative of the diverse perspectives and identities of contemporary Ireland. To date, the Department has provided €2.5 million for this purpose and overseen the acquisition of 500 works. As I stated, the national cultural institutions also benefit from donations of items and artworks, including those under section 176 of the Finance Act 1995 and section 1003 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. Among other donations in recent years, a painting by Sir John Lavery, the Port of Cork collection of artworks and a collection of important silver have been donated to the National Gallery of Ireland, Crawford Art Gallery and National Museum of Ireland, respectively.

Returning to the Bill, as with all legislation, the question arises as to whether it, as drafted, meets the objectives of the policy intention in a way that is effective and without creating any legal or administrative challenges in its operation. In that context, the Department considers that there remain open questions in the drafting with regard to the scope and nature of the role designated to the director of the National Museum of Ireland and we would welcome further consultation on the drafting. Engaging the directors of the National Museum of Ireland and the National Archives in particular in this consultation is essential to ensuring there are no adverse or unforeseen effects.

In terms of areas for future consultation, the Department notes that, although we have no objection to the Bill creating a vehicle for potentially valuable artefacts to enter the national collections, the current drafting may create a potentially significant administrative burden on the director or her nominees. As such, we consider that further analysis of the number of such boxes and the short timeframe for examination by the director would be beneficial to the process.

Equally, we are interested in the experience and advice of financial institutions on the types of materials that are typically found in safe deposit boxes. Arising from our cross-departmental engagement on the Bill, it appears there is anecdotal evidence that the majority of such boxes contain materials that are of personal importance but would not meet the high standards of the national collections. In that context, the Department believes there is merit in considering whether all boxes meeting the criteria set out in the Bill need to be referred to the director or just those boxes where there has been a prior determination that the contents may be of national importance. The current drafting sees the assessment by financial institutions as just a review of the materials with a view to identifying the owner, which is a very limited assessment. Accordingly, the Department, with the director, would be happy to consider ways to support the financial institutions in assessing the importance of items, including through the development of a set of criteria that could be used by the institution to assess whether an object should be referred to the director for further consideration. This intermediate step would be critical in ensuring the role provided for in the Bill continues to align with the role and functions of the directors as set out in the establishing legislation and would not lead to the introduction of an administrative function that is outside their area of specialist expertise. Consideration might also be given to how the materials are recorded during the assessment, given the growing emphasis on digital collecting among cultural institutions.

Finally, the Department believes there is a need to expand consideration of indemnity for the State in taking objects into the national collections. In addition to consideration of the general protections for the State and the director of the National Museum of Ireland, a further area of consideration not currently provided for in the Bill is where items have been conserved or restored and could be considered by an owner at a future date as an unlawful change to the object.

In closing, I thank the committee for its time and am happy to take any questions that the members may have.