Written answers
Thursday, 21 February 2008
Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism
Natural History Museum
5:00 pm
Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he will lend every available assistance to the Natural History Museum to ensure its exhibits are catalogued and conserved before the Seanad moves into this building in June 2008; if he will ensure that as many of the exhibits are relocated to other National Museum locations as possible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7330/08]
Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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Since the National Museum of Ireland became an autonomous statutory body under the National Cultural Institutions Act, 1997 on 3rd May 2005, the Board of the National Museum is statutorily responsible for operational matters concerning its collection and I, as Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, do not have a statutory function in respect of operational matters.
My Department provides resources to the National Museum in respect of its statutory functions. Funding of â¬19,058,000 has been allocated to the National Museum in 2008 consisting of â¬14,428,000 current funding and â¬4,630,000 capital funding. This is in addition to the funding in the Vote of the Office of Public Works for major capital projects for the National Museum.
My Department, the Office of Public Works and the National Museum of Ireland are engaged in discussions to facilitate the orderly cataloguing, conservation, and any necessary removal and storage of the exhibits in the Natural History Museum and, also, the exhibition of some of these artefacts at alternative locations during the period of the closure and refurbishment.
The proposal to temporarily locate the Seanad in the museum building is one of a number of proposals currently being discussed between the OPW and the Seanad Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
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