Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also support the review of the town councils but I want it to be in the open and transparent. It must look at the funding, supports and powers available to councils.

Leaving that aside, I support Senator Darragh O'Brien's call for No. 70, motion 17 on the Order Paper to be taken today. It is too urgent to leave aside. I have never had calls from constituents because I do not see myself as a constituency politician but I am getting calls now from people who are afraid of being left destitute. In respect of a sum of €36 for one child and €52 for two, the decision is wrong and must be reversed. I support Fianna Fáil on that.

On the Beit collection, I am delighted to see that some action has been taken which would not have taken place but for the Opposition in this House which stood its ground and forced a debate on it. I want to know a couple of things. I understand that the people who are going to save these paintings will get tax breaks and that is all very well. There is nothing wrong with getting a tax break for doing something of a philanthropic nature. However, where will ownership of the paintings reside if these people put money into them? Another issue of deep concern to me is the question of whether the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht misled this House when she was here last week because she told me straight out that there was no way to stop the sale, which has been paused. When I last raised this issue in the House I asked that the Minister seek an injunction in the United Kingdom to prevent the sale and to allow the Irish courts decide on the validity of the licence which allowed those artefacts to be removed from the State. Either we can or cannot stop the sale. Clearly, the people in Russborough House came under such pressure that they decided they had to stop the sale themselves. It is a terrible thing when our Government will sit by and watch the assets of the State being ripped out to save a building. At the end of the day when there are no paintings left why not simply create a virtual tour of all the fine houses in the country and sell off the lot? It might be the right thing to do and we would make a few bob that way.