John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

Commitment to the arts infrastructure is further evidenced in the continued funding under the arts and culture capital enhancement support scheme, ACCESS for a wide range of capital projects at new and existing venues throughout the country. Again the Government has been able to provide a substantial increase for the national cultural institutions such as the National Museum, National Library, National Archives, National Gallery, Chester Beatty Library, Irish Museum of Modern Art and National Concert Hall. As Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism I am proud of the work undertaken by these institutions. I am confident they will continue to be an easily accessible resource to all our citizens and visitors. I commend the role they play both as a tourism asset and as educational facilities. I will return to the matter of the National Library.

Overall funding of €19.7 million will be allocated to the Irish Film Board in 2007. This increase will enable the board to continue its essential role of developing and supporting the indigenous industry. The increased current allocation will facilitate the board in marketing Ireland as a film location and will assist the work of the newly appointed official in Los Angeles in raising the profile of the Irish audiovisual industry abroad. This provision underlies the sustained Government support for the board that has seen its allocation increase by 60% since 2002.

A 50% increase in funding has been secured for Culture Ireland to ensure that Irish art is promoted both at home and abroad. Taken together with the 50% increase secured in 2006, this represents unprecedented Government support for the arts. I will continue to highlight the necessity to invest in the arts. The Government must nourish the broader aspects of society and should not weigh up all matters in purely economic terms. Artists and the arts, in conjunction with the national cultural institutions, seek to promote a more rounded development of our country and our lives. After many years of neglect, I have striven to increase Government investment in arts and culture and will continue to do so as Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. Under my stewardship the arts have been pushed boldly into the core of Government policy.

The Genealogy and Heraldry Bill concerns one of our national institutions, the National Library of Ireland, in which I have taken keen interest over the past few years. When I first assumed office as Minister with responsibility for the arts, one of my objectives was the reinvigoration of the national cultural institutions. The National Cultural Institutions Act had only been partly enabled. Two of our most venerable institutions then formed part of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism. These were the National Library of Ireland and the National Museum of Ireland, which had over the years come under the aegis of the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Education. I was keen to move both of these institutions out of my Department and make them independent under their own boards. It never made sense to me that such specialised institutions should form part of a Department and they would be better placed to deliver as statutorily independent entities. I also sought to avail of the opportunity to provide an environment that facilitated 21st century governance and accountability infrastructure in these institutions. After much negotiation with staff and the Department of Finance, both the National Museum and the National Library were made autonomous in May 2005 under the National Cultural Institutions Act. In each case I appointed strong, independent boards.

There remain some matters to be finalised under the Act, such as export licensing for the National Museum and extending mandatory deposit for the National Library. However, I am convinced that the ability of both institutions to discharge their functions has been immeasurably improved with independence and substantial additional resources.

Within the past year and a half both institutions have made good strides in independent guises. The National Museum recently opened a new permanent exhibition at Collins Barracks, which deals for the first time with the history of the Irish soldier at home and abroad and in many different uniforms. This exhibition is entitled "Soldiers and Chiefs", an appropriate title for a future Private Members' Bill.

The National Library of Ireland is similarly on a sound footing. It is currently hosting a seminal exhibition on William Butler Yeats, poet, romantic and distinguished former Member of this House. Last month the National Library won a major award for the outstanding way in which it informs and involves the public. The award was from the Association for Heritage Interpretation and it singled out the National Library's current exhibition on Yeats as a magnificent example of the way in which the library interacts with the public. Over 30,000 people have visited the exhibition to date and I exhort Members to make sure they do so. I congratulate the board, director and staff of the National Library on this success.

In the case of press publications the National Library of Ireland seems to fascinate in the matter of heraldry and what were dubbed chiefs of the name. It must be some medieval mystique that attracts people in a constitutional republic to such relics of history. The Government is not in a position to support Senator Ryan's Bill. I commend the Senator for the work that he and others have clearly put into the Bill. While I appreciate his interest in this area of public administration I am unconvinced of the need for this Bill. Nothing I have heard from the Senator today leads me to believe——