Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. There are two areas of concern. Last October, the OPW reported that 37 pieces of art in these Houses were unaccounted for and this was widely reported in the national press at the time. What has happened to these? Given that I come from Kildare I am especially interested in the fact that there was apparently a theft of items which were being kept in storage in County Kildare. This was discovered in October when several of those items were offered for sale.

The Minister has informed us that the audit is complete and that a review of security provisions is taking place. I put it to the Minister that one of the things highlighted by the storage issue is that we should not have items that have been bequeathed to the State kept in storage. Given the facilities we have in this city and throughout the country, including all the arts centres and museums, does the Minister agree that it would be desirable for anything in storage that can be taken out of storage to be taken out and made available in order that people can enjoy them? They should be on public display.

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