Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

Tá áthas orm deis a bheith agam cúpla focal a rá maidir leis an rún atá roimh an Teach seo anocht agus a bhí roimh an Seanad níos luaithe inniu. I am delighted to be here this evening to respond on behalf of the Government on this matter. To begin, I want to reiterate what the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, said yesterday. It is a sign of vitality in our democratic system that the subject of debate in both Houses this evening is our national cultural institutions. It bodes well for a society when its parliamentarians are so engaged on issues of cultural heritage and artistic importance.

Our arts and culture define us as a nation. They set us apart. They, above all, are what reveal us to the rest of the world. Our excellence in these fields has been constant in a churning world of change. I listened intently to the debate yesterday and earlier today and I acknowledge the contributions from both sides of the House. Having said that, we cannot forget or overlook the fact it was the former Government which authored the strategy of amalgamations and mergers in our national cultural institutions. They left this matter unfinished and the national cultural institutions in a state of uncertainty. In an act of nothing less than pure politics it has presented this motion in its ongoing attempt to whitewash its history of neglecting these matters in the past. However, I agree with one thing said by Deputy Martin yesterday which has been echoed by other speakers, that our national cultural institutions are intrinsic to our history and we should seek to leverage them as much as possible.

Ours is a Government that has put culture at the heart of business and slowed the rate of decrease in funding available to the national cultural institutions. This is a Government that is not afraid to embrace a process of reform where such reform is necessary. I am afraid the Opposition parlayed many half-myths in its contributions to this debate. The notion there has not been consultation with the sector is simply derisory. The Department, the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, and the officials have engaged extensively with all of the national cultural institutions, their chairs and boards and the wider stakeholding community on the public service reform plan. I have great admiration for the officials at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht who deal with culture, heritage and the language, the work in which they have engaged for many years, their commitment and goodwill and their realisation of how important a part of our country this is.

The Opposition has introduced a veritable quota of red herrings to the discussions. The arm's length principle is bandied about with a lack of understanding. This principle is enshrined in the Arts Act 2003. The arm's length principle is not at issue in the context of the public service reform agenda. In the same way, the Cultural Institutions Act 1997 and its supposed dismantling was introduced to this discussion by those who oppose for the sake of opposition. Again, we did not introduce this into the discussion. Many Deputies spoke about the impact of the arts and culture in our regions and throughout our country and this is very true. It is the arts and culture that animate our towns and cities each evening. They are an irreplaceable part of our community and will remain so through the lifetime of this Government and beyond.

Some Deputies raised the putting in place of an independent recruitment process for chief executives and directors of cultural institutions. There is one in place in the Public Appointments Commission, and it has been used by the Department and the cultural institutions in all recent recruitments including the directorships of the National Concert Hall, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Ireland and the Arts Council. This process will also be used in the upcoming open competition for the directorship of the National Museum. All of these appointments have been made during the term of this Government. The suggestion that we are seeking to dismantle independent recruitment simply does not stand up in light of this fact. Furthermore, the board appointments made by the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, and I since we came to office were all publicly advertised on the Department's website and expressions of interest were sought.

I was particularly taken by the contributions of Deputies Catherine Murphy and Maureen O'Sullivan on the work of the National Archives and I join them in congratulating the acting director and her staff on the wonderful job they are doing.

At a time of ongoing economic difficulty, we 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. Where these institutions are virtually 100% funded 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 these being undermined. These institutions perform a very important role and manage on our behalf a priceless resource. The Government wants to ensure they can work in the most effective and efficient way possible for today, tomorrow, and the generations to come.

Some recent commentary has suggested we are planning to effectively dismantle the national cultural institutions. We are planning no such thing. However, the challenge we are faced with is how to ensure Ireland's national cultural institutions can optimise 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 common services.

See this speech in context