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

As matters stand, if an important artefact of national importance were to come on the market, the Heritage Fund could not intervene and purchase the object on behalf of the State. We must review the position in this regard. The State has made major acquisitions through the Heritage Fund. In 2002, the National Library of Ireland used the fund to acquire the first tranche of the Joyce papers, the value of which at the time was more than €6.2 million. The total value of acquisitions, which included further tranches of the Joyce papers in 2003 and 2004, was approximately €12 million. If the Heritage Fund had not been available, the State would not have acquired these important papers. If finance is not available to purchase important collections that become available in future, they could be lost to the State forever as it may subsequently become impossible to acquire them.

I advocated the establishment of a heritage fund and supported the fund when it was introduced. It is an important instrument through which the State can acquire important memorabilia, papers and artefacts which are scattered throughout the world and may come up for auction. Sufficient funding should be available in the fund to ensure the State is in a position to step in and acquire items that could be valuable to the country so that their benefits are not lost to a private collection.

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