Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The mission statement of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is: "The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht oversees the protection and presentation of Ireland’s heritage and cultural assets." There are some particular parts of Ireland's heritage and cultural assets which I wish to draw the Minister's attention to because they are neither being preserved nor promoted at the moment. They are the cultural assets that fall within the remit of Shannon Heritage, namely, King John's Castle in Limerick; Craggaunowen, which is a crannóg beside a lake in Clare on 30 acres of parkland with a castle and is owned by the Hunt Museum trust and managed by Shannon Heritage; Dunguaire Castle in south-west County Galway near Kinvarra; Knappogue Castle; and Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. Of all of those sites, only Bunratty Castle and Folk Park and King John's Castle will open at all this summer. The country is crying out for places to visit. Hopefully we will have a tourist season in Ireland.

It would largely be domestic tourism.

In addition to tourists who might travel from one part of the country to another, there are families all over Ireland, including the mid-west, who may have spent more time in one another's company over the past three months than they had envisaged. There are parents who are desperate for some place to bring their children for a day. I say to the Minister, who is tasked with preserving and presenting Ireland's heritage, where better for those parents to bring their children than a heritage resource such as Craggaunowen, as I said, a crannóg, a living museum with a castle and 30 acres of parkland? Craggaunowen, for the first time in decades, will not open at all this year. Dunguaire Castle on Galway Bay will not open at all this year. A walled garden was developed at Knappogue Castle at taxpayers' expense. Who will see it this year? Nobody. The word "disgrace" is used a lot in the Dáil, but to treat our heritage in this manner is disgraceful. It is not the heritage of Shannon Airport, me, the Minister or the Acting Chairman; it is our heritage. To treat it in this manner at a time when people are looking for places to visit, are desperate for places to visit, is not alone a disgrace but incredibly short-sighted.

I had a meeting with the staff of Shannon Heritage last Saturday. Some 40 staff members showed up. That is much more than the 15 envisaged under law. The Minister can prosecute me if she so wishes. I did not organise the meeting and I am absolutely certain that those who did so did not expect it to be as well attended as it was. I was very proud to meet each and every one of those 40 people. If the Minister or anybody else in government wishes to prosecute me for that, they can go ahead. The staff are outraged by what is happening, not just on their own behalf, not just because of a lifetime of work they have put into these resources, but because of what it says to the people of Ireland about their heritage. It says we shut it off when it does not suit us. At the same time Shannon Heritage is doing this in the mid-west, the GPO experience is being kept open, Malahide Castle is being kept open and Newbridge House is being kept open. What is so special about the heritage sites in Dublin that they deserve to be kept open and ours can be closed when it suits?

I appreciate that I have not left the Minister much time to answer. It was not an intentional policy on my part. I apologise. I ask her to be afforded one minute if she can reply. I know that Shannon Heritage is a private body, but the State has to step in at some point to protect our resources.

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