Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Did the Minister discuss this or raise it with the Taoiseach or her colleagues around the Cabinet table? The Minister speaks of not having a pot of gold, but I am sure she is very well versed in W.B. Yeats's contribution to Ireland. The Minister wants to be so crude as to measure in money the value of W.B. Yeats to practically every man, woman and child in Ireland, along with other distinguished writers, but it is part of what we are as Irish people. The Minister has presided over the collection being scattered to the four winds with respect to our national patrimony and our legacy from W.B. Yeats, who was a Member of the Oireachtas as was his son who was a distinguished Member on behalf of the Fianna Fáil for a long period of time. Did the Minister discuss this with her Cabinet colleagues? Did the Minister have a face to face discussion with the Taoiseach? The Minister spoke earlier, and she will again, of promoting Ireland's creativity. What country would have allowed this? In 100 years' time people around the world will still know the name and the work of W.B. Yeats. A very distinguished list of people who have given a vast amount to the arts in Ireland wrote an open letter to the Minister. Was she not moved by any of that or does it all just come down, as Yeats himself said, to the "fumble in a greasy till"?

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