Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased to see both the Minister and the Minister of State here. I made the suggestion because we have two sets of Ministers and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht tends to be the poor relation, which should not be the case. The attendance of so many people here today demonstrates that this area should get more attention than it does from this committee and others.

The national cultural policy is very welcome. It will have a local and a national dimension but I am concerned about where our cultural institutions will be by then because we already have a very serious problem. The National Museum of Ireland is considering charging for the first time. The National Library of Ireland said that only 1% of its collections can be conserved to best international practice. There are 70,000 boxes of State records uncatalogued in the National Archives of Ireland and while they are not at risk, that is not the way the National Archives should function.

I compliment the people who work in all three of those institutions who have been performing miracles for the funding with which they have been provided. While it might be welcome that there has not been a funding cut, what is most unwelcome is that this is the Department that has sustained the greatest level of cuts over the years of austerity. All of us should be very concerned about the national cultural institutions and while the local is vitally important in terms of our heritage, our national cultural institutions should have sufficient money to function.

Regarding the decade of centenaries, I am on the consultative committee where there is a great focus, and rightly so, on the centrepiece that is the commemoration of 1916 in 2016. There will probably be opportunities to do a great deal outside the capital with regard to other elements of that decade of centenaries. The centrepiece will be Dublin and while there are some welcome developments with regard to the pension records, Kilmainham Gaol, the GPO and so on, it is not clear if there will be sufficient time for the consultative process and then to plan events, given the tight timeframe. The Minister might indicate when that consultative process will be completed. In terms of the submissions that are made, what timeline are people working to? It will be very difficult for people not knowing if money will be available or if they will have sufficient time to organise events. It has been left very late.

I stated at the consultation committee that we need to have a wide vision around this decade of centenaries. We have not had that big visionary moment not just in terms of looking at the short-term in a pragmatic way, but the longer-term outcome and how the arts can play a role in that. For example, I felt envious of the debate that took place in Scotland on the referendum on independence. We need to have that vision in terms of the kind of country we want to create. The people who took to the streets in 1916, including some of my ancestors, had that vision. They wanted something better. If there is a Department that can articulate that, it has to be the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht because it is the Department that should be able to capture the soul of the country. That is why we should be concerned about our national cultural institutions. This is the time they should be funded and resourced because people are paying attention. I am seriously concerned that the view is that we just have to get it over with rather than embrace it, so to speak.

Some very good work was done on genealogy.ie. The indexes for the general register were put up on the website, but they have been taken down and not reappeared. It is very unfortunate, but we need to know when it will happen. Will the Minister outline the consultation process she envisages on national cultural policy and the decade of centenaries?