Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I want to commend what two artists have done in recent weeks. Brian Teeling and Emma Roche have both instructed the National Gallery of Ireland to remove their works from the walls of the gallery. By doing so, they have put their practices at considerable risk to protest the fact that the National Gallery of Ireland has contracted the US company Aramark to take over the café on Merrion Square. I was absolutely dismayed at the decision by a leading cultural institution to offer its café to a company that profits from the inhumane system of direct provision, and even more so, because it completely undermines the work of the National Gallery of Ireland in its diversity, access and inclusion programme that is led by the very good education team and that included a recent exhibition created with people currently and formerly living in direct provision. The sheer hypocrisy is staggering. I commend the staff of the gallery who have spoken out internally in their workplace and the 84 artists who have put their names to an open letter to the board of the National Gallery. As the letter points out, and as we all know, 7,000 people remain in direct provision, 1,761 of whom have permission to remain in Ireland. For them, direct provision has become a system of emergency accommodation. The National Gallery of Ireland needs to show leadership.The procurement process required all contractors to ensure they did not damage the institution's reputation. This contract has led to severe reputational damage for the National Gallery of Ireland and the gallery needs to acknowledge that. The contract should be revoked.