Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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96. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to list the tours of towns across the country by the National Cultural Institutions which she has facilitated since taking office in 2020, in line with the Programme for Government commitment. [24228/24]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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My Department recognises that the wide and inclusive access to the arts is essential to the wellbeing of our society and in bringing together communities with shared enthusiasm and interests. This was particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic, and our National Cultural Institutions strove to strengthen relationships with many organisations across the country by sharing pieces from their collections and through their Learning and Participation programmes. The NCIs are committed to making the national collections ever more accessible to everyone. This will be achieved not just by providing visitor access in the museums and galleries but through education and participation programmes in schools, villages, hospitals and many other ways, a number of which are outlined below.

The National Concert Hall

As the Deputy will be aware the National Symphony Orchestra moved from RTE to the NCH in January 2022 and since then has toured many locations around the country.

In the period since autumn 2020 the National Concert Hall’s Learning & Participation has been active on an ongoing basis in with the following programmes in the following counties: Health & Harmony (music for dementia) – Clare, Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Tipperary.

Towns: Ennis, Bessboro, Listowel, Kilgarvan, Tralee, Limerick City, Garryowen, Newport, Clonmel, Thurles

20 visits per year in each centre.

Music in Mind (music for mental health) – Meath, Wicklow, Donegal, Galway, Offaly, Kildare, Westmeath, Sligo, Wexford, Leitrim.

Towns: Julianstown, Arklow, Letterkenny, Galway City, Tullamore, Maynooth, Mullingar, Kildare Town, Sligo Town, Navan, Enniscorthy, Portlaoise, Carrick on Shannon.

16 visits per centre per year.

Music in Children’s Hospitals – Limerick, Cork.

Monthly visits throughout the year.

The Learning & Participation programme has also provided one-off events as follows:

School Workshops – Wicklow, Meath, Tipperary, Kildare, Wexford. February, May, June, October 2024

Total of 10 visits

Primary Ensemble Project – Meath, Cork, Laois. Nov -Dec 2022; Jan-Mar 2023.

Total of 12 visits.

West Wicklow Festival – May 2022, 2023

Quavers to Quadratics – Galway. June 2022, June 2023. Louth 2023

Total of 16 visits

Crawford Art Gallery

Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the reopening of the Arts Sector, The Crawford has assisted a number of galleries providing pieces from the National Collection to locations throughout Ireland, for example;

- Jack B Yeats paintings to The Model Arts Centre and Niland Gallery in Sligo

- Gerard Dillion paintings to The Hunt Museum in Limerick

- Nano Reid Paintings to the Highlanes Municipal Art Gallery in Louth

- 29 pieces to the Limerick City Gallery for the exhibition 100 Years of Giving

In addition, an exhibition of thirty three paintings that has recently opened at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, featuring work by a range of artists including Paul and Grace Henry, Jack B. Yeats, Margaret Clarke, Colin Middleton, and John Luke. The thirty three works on display include fourteen paintings that have been loaned by the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork.

Irish Museum of Modern Art

Since 2020 IMMA has loaned nearly 60 artworks to a number of locations across the country for example

Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda

South Tipperary Arts Centre;

The Model, Sligo;

The Source Arts Centre, Co. Tipperary.

Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny;

Wexford County Council

National Archives

The National Archives had two external exhibitions in the city of Dublin (Dublin Castle and IMMA). The NAI Treaty Exhibition was also held in Wicklow Town, Thurles, Letterkenny, Wexford, Cork and Limerick.

Additionally, the National Archives provided exhibitions at the National Ploughing Championships in 2022 and 2023.

National Museum of Ireland (NMI)

The NMI continues to be proactive in sharing the collections through education and loans.

The outreach programme has provided workshops in schools across the country.

Furthermore, NMI has provided pieces from the National Collection to numerous county museums, for example.

National Gallery of Ireland

Due to the specific environmental conditions required to conserve and display artworks from the National Gallery, the collection can only be shared where the curatorial standards are assured.

The Ulster Museum in Belfast is currently showing a Carravaggio exhibition, reuniting Caravaggio’s The Supper at Emmaus from the National Gallery of London with The Taking of Christ from the National Gallery of Ireland, in a highly ambitious event, whereby they have hardly ever been seen together since the first quarter of the 17th century. Other collaboration included the loan of the NGI’s Lavery collection to the Ulster Museum in 2023 which is still on display in the Ulster Museum.

The NGI also actively engages with the Local Authority Museums and other public organisations, who would be in a position to meet the requisite environmental conditions to house paintings, for example.

- Francis William Doyle-Jones, Bust of Michael Collins, LTL to Clonakilty Museum

- Domhnall O’Murchadha, Eamon Ceannt, Patriot, Bronze, LTL to Galway City Museum

- 15 works, LTL to the Hunt Museum

- Bust of Sir Thomas Wyse and, After Alessandro Algardi, The Baptism of Christ, Giltwood, LTL to Waterford Museum of Treasures

- Pair of Mahogany side tables, LTL to Kilkenny Castle

- After Carlo Maratti, Portrait of Father Luke Wadding, to Waterford Institute of Technology

- 30 works (paintings, furniture, decorative arts) to Russborough House

- 76 works, LTL to Malahide Castle

While it is noted that the majority of NCIs are based in Dublin, each one has ensured that location is not a stumbling block to accessing the arts;

- Each of the NCIs brings a substantial online programme to its audiences around Ireland and beyond.

The Council of National Cultural Institutions acknowledges the National Ploughing Championships is the largest rural event in the country and attends each year, sharing the work that they do with all visiting the Government of Ireland Village.

My Department also operates a Mobility of Collections Scheme to support greater regional and local access to material held in the National Collections. The scheme is designed to fund the transport, cost of insurance and exhibiting costs for pieces from the National Collections to appropriate institutions around the country. This scheme is currently open to applications and is due to close on 1^st August 2024 at 1pm. Details of this scheme can be found at .