Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Catherine Murphy for raising this matter. I agree with her that our national cultural institutions, including the National Library, are doing fantastic work even though they have unavoidably suffered cuts in their allocations in recent years. Every publicly funded body has had to deal with this difficult reality during the economic crisis. I assure the House that the Government has done its utmost to minimise budget cuts to the cultural institutions, in so far as possible, while being cognisant of competing demands on the public finances. Despite these challenging financial circumstances, the National Library has continued to attract increasing numbers of visitors. More than 250,000 people passed through the doors of the library in 2013. In addition, the library has had in excess of 7 million views on its website and its Flickr page and has approximately 10,000 followers on each of Twitter and Facebook. This successful deployment of social media shows that the National Library is a current and vibrant entity that continually reaches out to audiences of all ages.

The National Library's collection has increased in recent years through donations, legal deposits and purchases. There are more than 1 million printed books in the collection. Among the most notable acquisitions are the Fishamble Theatre archives, which is a valuable resource that contains early material from playwrights who went on to achieve great success. The library has also acquired the important Haberer Heaney collection of letters that are of academic interest and of interest to those who wish to obtain a fuller picture of this great man and Nobel laureate. The library recently acquired the Christy Brown archive, which will shortly be made available online.

The National Photographic Archive, which is a key part of the National Library, comprises approximately 5.2 million photographs, the vast majority of which are Irish. The subject matter ranges from topographical views to studio portraits, and from political events to early tourist photographs. The library maintains an active collecting policy. Material is constantly added to the collections, often following generous donations from various sources. If it is said that a picture paints a thousand words, then the comparative collection in the National Photographic Archive is no less than astounding. In addition, the archive has hosted several superb exhibitions on the Google cultural institute portal. This is an indication of how current and relevant its collection is.

The National Library has a varied collection consisting of an estimated 170,000 printed items, including historical proclamations, broadsides, broadside ballads, posters, playbills, handbills, concert, theatre and souvenir programmes, memorial cards, calendars, postcards, flyers and pamphlets. It is sometimes easy to overlook such items, which represent a unique snapshot of the national consciousness at a given time. They encapsulate a point in time in Irish history.

The remarkable progress and work of the National Library is to be commended, particularly in a time of economic challenges. We are all aware of the current difficulties. We are working to resolve them in order to put Ireland back once again on a solid financial and economic footing. This will benefit everyone. The dedication and professionalism of the staff and board of the National Library will continue to ensure this national collection is available for future generations.

See this speech in context