Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to address two issues in respect of which I hope the Minister will get back to me in her own time, through her Department. The first concerns the village of Bruree in County Limerick, where the home place of the late President of Ireland and former Taoiseach Éamon de Valera is located. A museum dedicated to his life and times is situated in the village and just outside the village is the home place itself, known as De Valera's Cottage, which is vested in the OPW. The museum does not do our history and culture and the part Éamon de Valera played in building and developing this country any justice at all. There is a local committee which is doing its best to support and keep the museum going but, to the best of my knowledge, there has been absolutely no input or support from the Minister's Department. There is a huge opportunity for the Department and the State to explore the possibility of developing an interpretative centre in Bruree and harnessing the history, culture and heritage of the area and its association with Éamon de Valera, who grew up there. Will the Department look into this issue and engage with me, the local committee and the public in Limerick on it? For such a high-profile person who played such a significant role in the history of the State, what is there in Bruree at the moment completely undersells the importance of it.

The second issue I want to raise is not directly under the stewardship of the Minister and her Department but she will have an interest in it. The Shannon Group, through its subsidiary Shannon Commercial Properties, which manages a number of heritage sites - I understand it runs 12 to 14 sites between Galway, Limerick, Clare and Dublin - is proposing to close these sites after opening for only a six-week period. The most high-profile site is King John's Castle in the centre of Limerick city, on which Shannon Commercial Properties has a lease from Limerick City and County Council. It also manages Bunratty Castle in County Clare and other outstanding heritage and tourism sites. If we are serious about promoting holidaying at home, closing these sites at the end of August is really crazy. There is a huge groundswell of support right across the mid-west for these sites to remain open for far longer. While I recognise that this matter is not directly under the Minister's stewardship, I ask her to express a view that these cultural and heritage sites, which the public up and down the country will want to visit in numbers far beyond the end of August, should remain open.

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