David Norris (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are fine elements in it but I wonder what the Belgian refugees thought about the reference to our gallant allies in Europe, also known as the Kaiser who was trampling on little Catholic Belgium. History is a much more complex project than those who simplistically use it for political purposes appear to realise.
The arts are significant for the welfare of the people. I honour and salute institutions like the Project Theatre in Temple Bar, which brought in unknown people, including people from the flats, gay people and women, who had never been satisfactorily projected on the stage. They brought in new audiences and new subjects. I salute the Abbey Theatre and Senator Mac Conghail. If he did nothing else, I am grateful to him for shutting that awful little shoebox drawer of a balcony in the Abbey Theatre and replacing it with a fully raked auditorium. He took a space that was a disaster and managed to make it amenable for artistic productions.
We also have Joyce. I know we are not supposed to name people but I see Mr. Niall Ó Donnchú in the Gallery. He is one of the most constructive people in the arts with whom I have dealt. I dealt with 35 North Great Georges Street, which the city authorities proposed to demolish despite its magnificent ceilings and its pivotal position on the street. We managed to rescue that building and to celebrate James Joyce.
Some 30 years ago I travelled to New York with Senator Eamonn Coghlan, who was a very fine representative of Bord Fáilte. People in America told us that we were lucky to have people like Joyce. This is an insignificant little island off the coast of Europe but our artists put it on the map. It is incredible that a small, contained space like this could produce people like Swift, Berkeley, Joyce and Shaw. The list is endless. For a long time, we were pretty pathetic in terms of the visual arts but that was because of our social history. There was no money to invest for the majority of people in the plastic arts. We have a great 18th century heritage, however. We are debating in a magnificent Chamber. More than 30 years ago I identified the ceiling of the Chamber as the work of Michael Stapleton. People used to come in here and say:

Oh, the beautiful work. They had talent in them days; they could do wonderful things but they couldn't do it nowadays.

Oh yes, they could. The entire central section and the apse were replaced in the last 30 years by young Irish crafts people. Let nobody say that we cannot do it. In terms of visual arts, we were pretty disastrous except for Georgian architecture, some academic painters and some painters in the 19th century. There has been a flowering, however, by people like Michael and Patrick Scott and Louis le Brocquoy. There is a tremendous resurgence and vibrancy in the use of colour, and this has been internationally recognised.
All around us, Ireland is identified by our artists more than by our soldiers or politicians. I look forward to hearing the Minister's comments on commemorating 1916. I yawn every time I hear about bloody 1916. I hope to Lord God almighty that it is not a repetition of 1966, most of which I spent under the bed because I was not a heterosexual Catholic republican or white - I was white, however, or pink. It was dreary and awful, and I hope they do not repeat it.