Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As a member of the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government, with others in the Labour Party, I expressed in government very strong support for all the different mechanisms of the decade of centenaries and a very significant capital budget in respect of the renewal of key capital cultural institutions in this country. Can the Minister of State tell me whether this moribund committee will be reinvigorated? He did not say that. In addition to what Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh said, the 1918 election saw the first votes for women and Countess Markiewicz's election as the first female Member of Parliament, which is a unique distinction in these islands. The period also saw her appointment as the first female Minister in government and the democratic programme, which was subsequently superseded by de Valera's Constitution but which was a far more democratic programme. Now that Fine Gael is in alliance with the Independent Alliance, many of whose members are from a Fine Gael background, as are many Independents, Fine Gael could be racing away from this shared history. Can the Minister of State tell us whether this committee will be reinstated with the capital programme?

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