Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I recognise much of what the Minister has said from the National Library report that is on my desk. I did not ask for a synopsis of that report; I wanted to hear what the Minister intends to do about it at budget time. Does the Minister accept that we are at a critical point? The Oireachtas allocation to the National Library was €12 million in 2008, but it is just €6.3 million this year. The upshot of this reduction is that fewer people are employed. It is not the only source from which income decreased. The income from royalty and reproduction has decreased by 84% since 2007. Income has decreased across the areas from which the National Library can get income. I would not like to patronise the various institutions by saying they are doing great work without also calling for that to be recognised through the provision of the necessary resources to enable such work to be done.

The National Library's core responsibility is to protect the actual material for which it is responsible. It is not being given an opportunity to carry out that role. There are ways in which things could be done better while reducing costs. I suggest that there could be a combined look at how material is stored off-site in various locations. If someone has to physically retrieve material from three different locations, it can be quite costly. The front-line services to the public are being protected as far as possible. The cost of that is seen in the inability to properly conserve, catalogue and place in the public arena certain kinds of records. We are not getting to see these treasure troves because this service is underfunded. Given that 400,000 people go to the National Museum each year, the notion that we are going to cut down on guided tours and opening hours is absolutely scandalous. At a time when we are trying to build up our tourism numbers, it seems that certain services could be withdrawn because of underfunding in this area. There needs to be a serious look at this. Investment in this area is necessary. I want to hear what the Minister has to say about her approach to the budget. Does she accept that a critical point has been reached?

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