I move:—
That a sum not exceeding £13,500 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1956, for a Grant to An Chomhairle Ealaíon (No. 9 of 1951).
I very gravely doubt whether the Deputies in their present mood want to hear anything about art or the steps that have been taken to improve art, and certainly they are so anxious to get home, so desirous to leave this House, that I do not propose to detain them very long. At the same time I must keep them for one minute only, just to refer to one or two facts which I think are of importance in this connection. The Arts Council, An Chomhairle Ealaíon, were fortunate this year in securing the services of Professor Thomas Bodkin as a consultant. I think that is greatly in the public interest, and we are to be congratulated that the services of that very eminent specialist are at the disposal of An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
The second matter I want to mention is a matter of some importance on which I would like to ask for the co-operation of all Deputies and all sections of the House. Deputies who have read Dr. Bodkin's report on the arts in Ireland, will, perhaps, remember that it was one of the functions suggested for An Chomhairle Ealaíon, the Arts Council, that they should do their part in the effort to secure the return of the Lane pictures. This year An Chomhairle Ealaíon have taken a decision to reprint the book on the Lane pictures which set out Ireland's case for the return of the Lane Pictures which had been prepared in 1932, in a cheap edition, by Professor Bodkin. That book has been brought up to date and the latest arguments and all relevant facts incorporated in the new edition which is to be published by An Chomhairle Ealaíon.
I think we can view with gratitude and satisfaction also the fact that Professor Bodkin gave a broadcast on the Lane pictures quite recently and that through him we will be able to get a very excellent and a very cogently argued broadcast from Radio Éireann from Sir Alec Martin, Managing Director of Christies and an associate of the Wallace Galleries—a man who stands very highly in art circles in England. He is a man who, as an Englishman, would naturally like the Lane pictures kept in England, but now recognises the moral right of Ireland to these pictures. He will come on the air this month and explain his conviction of Ireland's moral claim to the Lane pictures in strict conformity with the wishes of the late Hugh Lane with whom Sir Alec Martin was closely associated.
