Rev. Dr. Norman Gamble:

I will respond to Senator van Turnhout's last point. We are working on such a small shoe-string that we do not even think about the financing. That has some benefits. We would be one of a number of very specialised archives and if the material was on a larger scale, one would lose the environment in which it is set. People often come along and have an idea that somebody worked on the railways and were able to find out a lot but some of the terminology does not always match up with their expectation. Engine driver for example does not necessarily mean a man who drove a railway engine, he could have stoked a mill. We are able to read into the background. I was just thinking when the hundreds of thousands were mentioned that we would probably see 400 to 500 people in a season from September to June and deal with the same number of e-mail or postal inquiries that come in. It is a drop in the ocean, but we may need to prevent ourselves being carried away with a desire for technology. We are a voluntary society with approximately 1,200 members scattered around the British Isles in the main. We get donations from people who visit the archives but there is no source to which we can turn apart from the annual Heritage Council grant. There is no finance from the Departments of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht or Education and Skills. I think some aspects of what we are discussing are related to the education budget just as much as the heritage budget. I know that the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is a very sincere and committed person but he does not have the mega millions. It is still low down in the priorities of Government. Something needs to be done to preserve local culture in a tangible way that is not being done at present.