Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)

Sinn Féin is deeply concerned about the proposal to merge the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Crawford Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Ireland. We are also opposed to the proposed merger of the National Archives and The Irish Manuscripts Commission, any change in the arm's length principle or any proposal that would interfere with the independence of key artistic and cultural institutions. These proposals, if carried through, would have a lasting and detrimental impact on the arts and cultural sector in Ireland. In this sense the proposals are clearly not thought through. They are little more than an exercise in optics by a Government that is obsessed with reducing the numbers of quangos and cost cutting, even when such a strategy makes no sense.

Even though the Government has not produced any information in terms of a cost-benefit analysis or head count reductions to justify the proposed changes it is hell bent on embarking on a process of amalgamations, mergers, dissolution of independent boards and non-renewal of vital leadership roles. However, the real elephant in the room in terms of the Minister's proposals is that the State's arts and cultural institutions are not and never were quangos. They are part of the DNA of the Irish State. Their very uniqueness is what makes us who we are as a people. The arts and cultural institutions are, in essence, the key producers of Irish identity. At a time of fiscal austerity, cutbacks, mass unemployment and national despondency the arts offer a valuable creative outlet for people. Just over 1.2 million people regularly engage in artistic or creative activities. Approximately 2 million people, or 57% of the adult population, are regular arts attenders. In a mature society that values expression and creativity the arts have the potential to enrich lives. They make us more human and help us to think about the world and our place in it in a more imaginative, innovative and abstract way. In this time of great harshness and fiscal cruelty we should be protecting and investing in the arts.

Irish artists enhance our international reputation through movie screens, bookshelves, theatres and concert stages. This presence, for which Irish artists regularly win internationally recognised awards, plays an important role in creating and sustaining Ireland's global reputation and, in turn, drives tourism from abroad. Approximately 1.6 million overseas tourists attended museums and galleries in 2010 and a further 433,000 attended festivals and other cultural events. Cultural tourism is worth over €2 billion to the Irish economy and is the only growth area of the tourism market. At a more fundamental level the arts and cultural institutions are priceless. The arts have a humanising effect on society by bringing softness, imagination and creativity to communities that have been forgotten in economic and infrastructural terms by those in power. The arts have the potential to soften urban wastelands and give hope and human solace to people who feel betrayed by the political system. If the Minister visited the National Museum or the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork he would do so without paying not because he is the Minister but because these institutions are free of charge to everyone. This fact makes them unique and valuable in societal terms.

I realise the Minister has a personal interest in the arts and I acknowledge his hard work and dedication to the sector but he needs to respect the arm's length principle by immediately engaging in a process of consultation with the national cultural institutions and to meeting representatives of the National Campaign for the Arts. I ask why he has thus far failed to establish an independent recruitment process for the CEO vacancies in the key cultural institutions. These positions are crucial to the day-to-day operations of the institutions. I call on him to establish immediately an independent recruitment process to fill the vacancies without further delay.

Who will benefit from these proposed mergers and, by extension, the abolition of autonomous governance of cultural institutions? It will hardly be the taxpayers and the general public. Instead, as Diarmaid Ferriter has noted: "Those in power will have undermined the very thing we need to prize and cherish at a time of national crisis – the robust, independent protection of our culture and history, a history that is founded on its libraries and archives and the preservation of its public and private documents." The heritage and culture of Ireland belong to all of the people on the island of Ireland. The Government of the day has a responsibility to preserve and foster this heritage. It is the caretaker of our cultural and artistic heritage and its role is to safeguard and preserve it for the next generation. This is particularly important as we begin the decade of commemoration and enter a new era for our national identity. It is imperative that we have independent, robust and well funded national artistic and cultural institutions. Only then can the various commemorations be seen as an opportunity to revisit our past with the express aim of building a more equal and caring society.

Mergers of archives and libraries require investment and should not be seen by short-sighted bureaucrats as an opportunity for cost cutting and savings. For example, the merger of the libraries and archives in Canada cost CA$15 million. No one in the National Archives of Ireland and the National Library of Ireland objects to the idea of shared resources or co-operating in common fields of interest but the two bodies perform very different functions. The Minister must acknowledge this and must recognise that their unique character makes these institutions invaluable national assets. The library has custody of our great literary and estate manuscript collections and is an important public resource.

The focus of the National Archives of Ireland is solely on archives, most of them files of Departments, which are quite different kinds of records from manuscript collections. They are vital for understanding the political, social, and economic evolution of the Irish State. Furthermore, the slashing of the National Library of Ireland budget has been disproportionate; its funding has been cut by 40% and its staff by 38% from 2008 to 2012. Despite this, it has delivered on key aspects of public service reform and innovation. It hosted 1.2 million visitors last year, has promoted shared services, curated major exhibitions and made vast amounts of material available online.

This debate is not about money or approaches to the arts. It is about autonomous governance, public ownership and resisting the bureaucratic centralisation of the arts and cultural administration in Ireland. If this Government was serious about reform, it would do the opposite by allowing genuine, autonomous and transparent governance of the cultural institutions, with unpaid board members independent of party politics and experts in their fields. It would, without delay, meet the people who know best - the various artistic and cultural organisations and stakeholders. It would value independent advice and input rather than seeking to eliminate it. More important, it would desist from attempts to micromanage complex institutions with rich histories under the pretence of cost cutting. I call on the Minister to develop an all-lreland approach to arts and culture and to remember that there are sometimes very rare institutions whose societal value far exceeds any monetary value.

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