Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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34. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to address the funding challenges of the National Museum of Ireland and the National Library; if she will outline the Oireachtas grant-in-aid to those institutions in tabular form from 2011 to date in 2014; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40147/14]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In the recent Budget, I was pleased to be able to maintain funding for 2015 for the National Cultural Institutions, including the National Library and National Museum, at the same level as 2014.All of the National Cultural Institutions have unavoidably taken cuts in their allocations in recent years, as the Government worked to rebalance the public finances. I wish to acknowledge the part that the institutions played in that difficult process, and the difficulties that they had to overcome in dealing with cutbacks whilst still providing excellent services to the public and protecting our national collections. The staff of our national institutions are to be commended for their commitment in such straitened times.

I am pleased that we have now been able to bring an end to the cycle of cuts. I believe that the funding secured for 2015 gives more certainty to the institutions and will allow them to continue to deliver on their core objectives, while attracting large numbers of people through their doors, including overseas and domestic tourists.

I can assure the Deputy of the Government's interest in, and continuing support for, our National Cultural Institutions and I remain hopeful that, notwithstanding the continuing pressure on the State's finances, it will prove possible in the coming years to ease the resource constraints on the institutions even further.

The tables sets out the Exchequer grant funding provided by my Department to the National Library and the National Museum since 2011.

National Museum of Ireland