Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)

In the 1990s, the national cultural Institutions, which are charged with enhancing and expanding the national collections of cultural artefacts, had been experiencing increasing difficulties in acquiring privately owned artefacts and collections of heritage importance due to the high prices that such items were obtaining at sales and public auctions. To help surmount these difficulties, the Heritage Fund was established so that the relevant national cultural institutions could acquire heritage objects which are outstanding examples of their type and pre-eminent in their class.

The Heritage Fund Act 2001 established the Heritage Fund with an overall limit of funding of €12.697 million over a five year period. Funding was granted as follows: €3,809,214 in the financial year 2001; €2,539,476 in each of the financial years 2002, 2003 and 2004; and €1,269,738 in the financial year 2005. The five eligible institutions that may benefit from the Heritage Fund are the National Archives, the National Gallery of Ireland, the National Library of Ireland, the National Museum of Ireland and the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

The Heritage Fund remains in place and currently contains €215,539.90 in funding. The amount in the fund is below the amount laid down in the legislation for an individual acquisition and, as the existing legislation does not allow for replenishment of the fund, new primary legislation is necessary before any further acquisition can be made. A scheme of a new Bill for this legislation has been drafted in my Department. However, any progress on this will be dependent on availability of funding from the Exchequer.

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