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

The challenge I am faced with is how to ensure that Ireland's national cultural institutions can optimize the funding they receive from the taxpayer and be equipped to deal with the range of issues which will arise in the future.

One of the simplest ways in which we can help the institutions to work in a more effective, efficient and co-operative way is to encourage them to share or draw on common services. Many of the institutions have individual marketing and human resource departments, while institutions also purchase services like security and insurance which may, if pooled, drive down total spending over time. That is a common sense approach to co-operation and reform.

The three main galleries - the National Gallery of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and the Crawford Gallery - have put a detailed proposal together on how support and operational services can be shared, and this is being considered. It goes without saying that the remit and independence of each of these institutions would not change under these proposals. The National Gallery would continue to show historically important artwork while the Irish Museum of Modern Art, IMMA, would retain its focus on contemporary work. Importantly, the institutions concerned would continue to decide what to exhibit and where to exhibit it.

There has been much recent commentary about the National Library, the National Museum and the National Archives, and we had a repeat of that here this evening. I would point out that the National Archives is part of my Department. It is headed by a director with statutory independence, advised by a voluntary board whose members offer their time pro bono, and in this structure does excellent and independent work. It has shown the way on-line to all cultural institutions, with its award winning digitisation of the 1901 and 1911 census returns. The National Archives raised €0.25 million in philanthropy in the past 12 months to fund a digitisation project.

Mention was made of Diarmaid Ferriter. While he resigned from the National Library board he remains on the National Archives Advisory Council. I am glad he chose to remain on the National Archives Advisory Council. Clearly he has a lot to offer.

The National Museum and the National Library, institutions in existence since 1887, worked in a similar way until 2005. I am considering a range of options for these institutions such as whether the sharing of support functions can streamline the way they operate or whether they would operate more efficiently if those support functions were delivered by my Department which, for example, already manages human resources functions for other institutions, such as the National Archives.

Importantly, at a time of ongoing economic difficulty, I want to examine the governance of institutions and consider how boards or advisory groups might perform a more outwardly proactive and international role in terms of fund-raising and philanthropy. In this time of diminished funding from the taxpayer, it would be imprudent of me not to examine all of the structures to see if they are fit for the new reality we face in arts and culture funding in the 21st century. These institutions are our national collective memory, our cultural treasuries, and our legacy to future generations. In a situation where these institutions are funded virtually 100% by the taxpayer, the Government has a responsibility to subject them to periodic review.

Some commentary in this House and outside has focused on the curatorial and programming independence of the institutions. There is no question of them being undermined. Our counter motion recognises and supports this independence. There has been ongoing contact and engagement with the cultural institutions since the Government published its public service reform plan last November. That contact is continuing. I personally met the chairs of all national cultural institutions, along with the Arts Council and Culture Ireland, to discuss these issues and hear their views. Therefore it is inaccurate and disingenuous to say consultation has not taken place. It has.

Before I finish, I cannot allow this evening to pass without remarking that the authors of this motion appear to have forgotten their own recent history.

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