Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As it was not clear whether my earlier question had been selected as a priority question, I submitted this parallel question on the same issue, namely, the sale of the bulk of the Yeats family collection at an international auction. Notwithstanding the Minister's statement that she has acquired some of the items, many of them will, unfortunately, be lost to Ireland. The Minister celebrated her acquisition of some items but there is not much to celebrate given that Yeats was our most famous writer. One can only imagine what will happen to the estates and artefacts of other writers and artists. The Minister agreed with me on treating arts and culture in a mercenary and businesslike manner. The calling card of Fine Gael on the arts has been to ask whether there is money at stake and, if so, to support whatever the issue is. What precisely occurred in respect of the Yeats collection? I presume the Minister will set this out in the reply.

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