Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Question 44: To ask the Minister for Arts; Heritage and the Gaeltacht his plans in cooperation with the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to maximise the attraction of the cultural institutions during the proposed Gathering tourism initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29863/11]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I welcome this initiative of my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. The Gathering will be an important event for the tourism sector and one in which my Department and the national cultural institutions which operate under its aegis will be very pleased to participate. As the Deputy is aware, our cultural institutions play an important role in enhancing the cultural tourism product offering of this country and will have a major role to play in the Gathering initiative.

Visitor figures at many of our institutions benchmark favourably against international comparators, having regard to size and resources. For instance, the Irish Museum of Modern Ard, IMMA, welcomed more visitors than the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago or the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide during 2009. The figures for 2010 for the National Museum put it on a par with visitor numbers at the Kremlin Museums in Moscow and Pergamon Museum in Berlin, while the attendance figures at the National Gallery in 2010 place it ahead of many distinguished galleries abroad, including the Serpentine Gallery in London, Tate Liverpool, which I visited last weekend, and MoMA in San Francisco.

In 2010, there were more than 3.5 million visitors to the cultural institutions supported by my Department and I am advised that, in the first six months of this year, visitor numbers were almost 1.8 million, an increase of an aggregate of 6.4% on the same period last year. I understand visitor numbers to our three National Museum sites alone will exceed 1 million this year. This continued growth in numbers is driven by the world class exhibition programmes at these institutions. This year alone, highlights have included the 7th Century Faddan More Psalter at the National Museum, Diego Rivera and Frieda Kahlo at IMMA, Matisse at the Chester Beatty Library, Dexter Dal wood at the National Gallery, Elements at the Science Gallery, the 9/11 Exhibition at Collins Barracks and Richard Hamilton at the Hugh Lane Gallery. The national cultural institutions are of significant economic value and will form a major part of the promotion of the Gathering event.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. The figures he provided are promising. Has he considered the possibility of increasing the opening hours of the national cultural institutions to make them even more visitor friendly? What budget has been allocated by the cultural institutions, Tourism Ireland or Fáilte Ireland for marketing cultural institutions and heritage sites? The advertising budget of the National Gallery was slashed last year. Does the Minister have any plans to reverse this cut?

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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While opening hours are determined by financial constraints, it would be desirable to open our cultural institutions later in the evenings during the peak tourism season. This possibility is considered. As regards marketing funds, while it would be advantageous to increase funding, the marketing of our cultural institutions appears to be successful in light of the increase in visitor numbers. Anyone who ventures out from Leinster House on to Kildare Street or Merrion Square will see the large numbers of visitors to the National Museum, National Library and Natural History Museum. The shortfall in marketing funding arising from the recent cutback is being made up through Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Ireland. The focus of attention on our national cultural institutions appears to be working as numbers are increasing. In some cases, they are attracting even greater numbers than their international counterparts.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Gathering tourism initiative. Will the Minister consider maximising the tourism potential of the Gaeltacht areas by expanding the role of the cultural institutions and heritage sites in the Gaeltacht? Will he also consider the introduction of longer opening hours in the cultural institutions, particularly on bank holidays and at weekends when tourist numbers tend to be higher?

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I will explore the Deputy's practical suggestions, although they will obviously be the subject of negotiation with the cultural institutions. The staff in the cultural institutions are very hard-working and the welcome they provide is one of the reasons people visit them. I experienced this welcome during visits to our cultural institutions long before I was appointed to my current position. The staff are welcoming, highly professional and handle customers very well. It is good public relations to have visitors well received when they come to our cultural institutions. Given the Gathering project and the fact that our institutions are so popular we should look at ways of extending opening hours especially during the peak tourist season. That would be a very important consideration.