Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

This is not about savings at all — and that is why I am putting the question to the Deputy. I have said I do not know whether there will be any savings at the end of it. The Deputy has raised a whole range of issues that I will be scrutinising in terms of whether they should be based in one location, amalgamated, what the board structure will be, the role of the chief executive, the HR functions and so on. There clearly is a good deal of duplication, even triplication, in so many of the institutes, where they all have utterly independent administrative functions. As to whether there can be greater efficiencies, the answer is probably "Yes", but to do much of this it must be decided what else needs to happen and whether the approaches to be taken will be cost-effective. The outcome I want is to maximise to the absolute end all of the institutes, including the National Archives — which I have a good deal of time for — in terms of their ability to be part and parcel of this country's cultural performance.

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