Jillian van Turnhout (Independent)

I formally second the amendment to the Order of Business proposed by my colleague, Senator Mac Conghail. I come to the issue from a different perspective than Senator Mac Conghail. I am very interested in family history and my ancestry and I have done extensive work on it. I have had the pleasure of directly using the services of the National Archives and the National Library of Ireland. They have provided exemplary work in this area. I am also a subscriber to several US and UK publications on family history and ancestry which regularly praise the work of the National Archives or the National Library of Ireland as exemplars of how we should go about researching ancestry and family history. I, too, was surprised - shocked, actually - when I heard Professor Ferriter had resigned. I read in The Irish Times this morning that he pointed to the irony of the Government working on a decade of centenary commemorations to mark the foundation of the State while it is intent on doing untold damage to the very institutions which are the custodians of so much of that history. It makes me question whether this is the end of the arm's length principle between the Minister and the national cultural institutions. Is this the Government's new policy on culture.

There is an urgency in the issue, for which reason the Minister should attend the House today. We must address the Government's policy on culture and send a clear message. We are promoting the Gathering next year and are sending signals around the world. This is a question of credibility. The Minister must give the Seanad a clear answer today.