Dáil debates

Tuesday, 26 June 2012

National Cultural Institutions: Motion [Private Members]

 

8:00 pm

Photo of Gerry AdamsGerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Tá sin ceart. Sin mo bharúil agus tá a fhios sin ag an Aire fosta.

However, I take this opportunity to remind the Minister that apart from the intrinsic value of our culture and its components, the arts and cultural sector makes an important contribution to the tourism industry. It is just bad economics to undermine the sector. Community arts projects, local libraries and other grassroots institutions lift people out of themselves, enrich their lives and empower them. Recently on the world stage, Terry and Oorlagh George's Oscar winning film, "The Shore", was a great example of how this island produces winners. As we face a decade of commemoration, it is imperative that the Minister recognises the central role of culture and the arts in shaping Irish identity.

I am also part of another organisation, the Bobby Sands Trust. It has put historically important archival material from the H-blocks and the Armagh protests into the National Archives. I am sure there is other archive material dating back to the Black and Tans war, the Civil War and what happened to Unionism in this State. There is a need to join that with what is happening in the Six Counties.I urge the Minister to join with the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure in the North, Caral Ní Chuilín, in discussing an all-lreland strategy to use the arts and culture in the promotion of understanding and national reconciliation.

In concluding, I will quote from the mission statement of the National Archives of Ireland. It states: "...the Archive's holdings relate to all parts of Ireland...and provide essential source material for people seeking to understand the political, economic and social forces which have shaped our nation." It is imperative that we preserve and safeguard this. In all that we do, the safeguarding, protection and preservation of imagination and creativity must replace any notion of a State-centred oneness or bureaucratic control over these fine institutions. I commend the motion and thank Fianna Fáil for tabling it. I ask the Minister to support it also.

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