Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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352. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his Department spent more than €70,000 moving works of art between embassies and ambassadors' residences in 2016; if his Department paid the National Gallery €25,504 to move paintings between the old ambassador's residence in Vienna to a new one, a distance of 8 km, in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4022/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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In 2016, my Department spent €5,409 on moving works of art from Embassies and official diplomatic accommodation. In 2015, that figure came to €70,176.

Of the €70,176 expenditure in 2015, €25,504 was paid to the National Gallery of Ireland to transport eight works of art from the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. Of these, four pieces were transferred back to the National Gallery of Ireland, with a further four art works moved within Vienna.

This work is highly specialized and this figure includes the de-installations of works at the previous official accommodation, specialist crating and packing services, overnight stop at a fine art warehouse in Cologne, travel expenses for an art specialist to supervise the works, and expenses for transport by road for the works returning to Ireland.

Promotion of Ireland’s culture, arts and creative industries through our Embassy network is a key element of the work of our diplomatic Mission network, as set out in my Department’s Statement of Strategy. As such, we believe there is a significant value to Ireland in working with the National Gallery of Ireland and Irish Museum of Modern Art to promote culture and heritage, artists and their work internationally.

Art, along with craft, furniture etc., provides a means of showcasing Ireland to a wide and influential range of interlocutors. It is normal practice of all countries to display the arts and crafts of their countries in their Ambassadorial residences as a means of conveying the culture of the country that they are representing and promoting it.