asked the Minister for Finance when it is proposed to put back into position the paintings of Griffith, Collins and O'Higgins in the main hall at Leinster House; and if he will take steps to have this done immediately.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers - Leinster House Portraits.
20.
In December last, the Committee on Procedure and Privileges had before it the general question of the hanging of pictures in Leinster House including portraits which have been acquired of President de Valera, Mr. W.T. Cosgrave, Mr. J.A. Costello, Mr. R. C. Barton, Cathal Brugha, Austin Stack and Seán MacDiarmada. The Committee decided to postpone consideration of the matter until work on the extension to the House was nearing completion. In the circumstances, it is not proposed to re-hang at present the three portraits referred to by the Deputy.
Will the Parliamentary Secretary say if it is not a fact that the Committee specifically gave permission for these three portraits to be taken down and cleaned and to be re-hung forthwith when they were cleaned?
That would not be correct.
I was there and I know.
May I ask the Parliamentary Secretary to give us a clear indication as to why the portraits cannot be re-hung in the same position?
The position is that the three portraits can be re-hung in the same position.
Then will you take steps immediately to put them back?
I will not. The entire question of paintings in the House is under consideration at the present time. As I pointed out in my answer, portraits of President de Valera, Mr. Costello, Mr. W. T. Cosgrave, Mr. R. C. Barton and those newly received portraits of Cathal Brugha, Austin Stack and Seán Mac Diarmada have also to be hung and the question of their location is at present under active consideration, together with that of the three portraits referred to by the Deputy in his question.
Might I ask the Parliamentary Secretary does he not consider it to be a strange coincidence that at the very time that this booklet about the facts of Ireland is published and in which the names of Collins, Griffith and O'Higgins are blotted out, an attempt is also being made to blot them out in Leinster House?
The Deputy is trying to confuse the issue. The portrait of Patrick Hogan is still there.
You have not touched that yet.
(Interruptions.)
I shall raise the matter next week at the Committee on Procedure and Privileges.
Mr. Ryan
Have the portraits been cleaned yet?
No.
Were they not taken down to be cleaned?
That is right.
Mr. Ryan
They would look better up there than the cobwebs and dirt.
Surely it is an irresponsible thing that these portraits should be removed deliberately by Fianna Fáil because of bitterness?
You were a great admirer of them in 1932.
(Interruptions.)
Mr. Ryan
Having regard to this Government publication, are we now to understand that it is the deliberate policy of Fianna Fáil to try to obliterate the names of the founders of this State, Griffith, Collins and O'Higgins?
Does the Parliamentary Secretary, and indeed the Taoiseach, not realise that grave and legitimate offence will be given if these pictures are not restored to the places they have traditionally occupied without prejudicing whatever arrangements may be made to hang the portraits when provision is being made in the new building, and in the light of that, will the Taoiseach consider giving directions that the pictures be restored to where they traditionally hung?
I shall not. The matter will be dealt with in the normal way without regard to the Deputy's propaganda.
(Interruptions.)
This State was established in January, 1919.
This decision is calculated to give grave and legitimate offence and does the Taoiseach not realise that the decencies of Parliament require that an outrage of this kind should not be persisted in?
This is an outrage.
It is in defence of the Committee's order.