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

Can we establish with certainty then that what the Beit Foundation says it requires is an endowment of the order of €15 million to be able to continue to operate Russborough House successfully? Is it also the case that the foundation made it abundantly clear to the Minister that the tax relief at 80% was not adequate to attract the level of investment required to secure the future of the art assets held at Russborough House and that tax relief needed to be restored to 100%? One would assume there could be sufficient conditionality attaching to any relief at 100% that would guarantee that the entire benefit of that relief accrued to the people. Is it true, as reported by The Irish Timestoday, that the Minister, Deputy Noonan, has refused the Minister's request to increase the tax relief from 80% to 100%?

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