Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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226. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the estimated cost of expanding the afterhours funding strand for national cultural institutions on a phased basis over five years to allow for the extension of opening hours to 10pm. [28012/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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There are numerous factors which can impact on the costs of extending the opening hours of a National Cultural Institution, including for example additional staff costs in the form of overtime payments or the necessity to increase overall staff numbers to maintain an equal level of service to evening visitors to a National Cultural Institutions. There are also additional non-pay costs that may be incurred as a result of longer opening hours, such as cleaning and maintenance, energy consumption, and other ancillary costs.

An examination of the cost implications of extending the opening hours of National Cultural Institutions to 10PM - without any phasing in of the change - was carried out by my Department in 2023, in consultation with the National Cultural Institutions. Taking into account increases in public sector pay, and increased costs in other goods and services since then, that the overall cost now of introducing the change would be approximately 10% higher.

For the purpose of giving an estimate based on a phased introduction of the change, it is assumed that the NCIs would remain open until 10PM on one day per week in 2026, two days per week in 2027, and so on. I would ask the Deputy to note that these figures may be affected by further increases in pay and other costs during the period in question.

The estimated costs are shown in the table below.

While the figures shown continue to provide useful estimate of the costs involved, any specific proposal to extend the opening hours of National Cultural Institutions would require a detailed updated examination of all direct and indirect costs, and an appraisal of the value that would be provided in terms of meeting unmet visitor demand for accessibility to the National Cultural Institutions outside of the existing opening hours.

It should be noted that the National Concert Hall and the Abbey Theatre, which are National Cultural Institutions, already remain open to 10PM or later on numerous occasions during the year to facilitate the holding of concerts, plays and similar events.

Outside of the National Cultural Institutions set out in the table above, the State does not generally establish or operate local and regional museums and galleries, or provide direct operational funding for these. Such needs are usually addressed in the first instance by local authorities, most often in association with community groups.

It should be noted that the National Archives is also National Cultural Institution but is a functional division of my Department and the staff costs are borne from within my Department's overall allocation for pay.