Séamus Brennan (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)
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In the context of bilateral cultural agreements, my Department has sought to initiate and facilitate contact with world leading institutions on behalf of the national cultural institutions. These cultural agreements allow, inter alia, for promoting and developing the relations and understanding between Ireland and the other country in the areas of art, culture, etc. For example, in the context of the Cultural Agreement between Ireland and Ukraine, an official from my Department visited a number of cultural institutions in the Ukraine including the Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine and the National Art Museum of Ukraine, both in Kiev. A key element of this contact was to determine the prospect of some of the world-renowned Ukrainian artefacts and artworks being exhibited in Ireland. As a result of this contact and the positive response it received by the Ukrainian museum authorities, my Department has facilitated contact between these institutions and a number of the national cultural institutions in this country with a view to promoting cooperation between them. My Department has also met the Smithsonian and the US National Archives with a view to future work and partnerships.

Contacts between international institutions and their counterparts in Ireland are also facilitated through the Council of National Cultural Institutions and, on occasion, diplomatic and cultural missions have briefed the Council members on the potential for creating linkages. As the members of the Council are also Directors and Chief Executive Officers of the national cultural institutions, contacts of this nature are facilitated in a very targeted fashion.

The institutions also develop their own links with colleagues in similar international institutions for a variety of purposes relating to their collections, exhibitions and events. For instance, the National Gallery of Ireland recently organised the "Paintings from Poland" exhibition in collaboration with the National Museum, Warsaw, the Irish Museum of Modern Art hosted the Georgia O'Keeffe exhibition in 2007 in partnership with the Vancouver Art Gallery in Canada and the Chester Beatty Library has recently hosted a visit by the Director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and it is hoped to build on that contact in an exciting way in the coming years.