Vol. 208 No. 5
asked the Minister for Finance when he expects that the new extension to Leinster House will be completed; and if he will state the use to which, in the meanwhile, the wall in the hall of Leinster House will be put, on which the portraits of President Arthur Griffith, General Michael Collins and Kevin O'Higgins were hung since 1944.
9.
asked the Minister if he will state in respect of the portraits of President Arthur Griffith, General Michael Collins and Kevin O'Higgins removed from Leinster House (a) the date of their removal from the wall; (b) why they have not since been cleaned; (c) if he will now have them cleaned; (d) how long it will take to clean them; (e) how the need to clean them arose, as they were covered with glass, and on whose advice the decision to clean them was made; and (f) their present whereabouts.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 9 together.
It is expected that the new extension to Leinster House will be fully completed early in 1965—the restaurants and bar portions will, it is hoped, be ready about the end of this year.
With regard to the remainder of the questions, I would refer the Deputy to the reply given by me to question No. 21 yesterday.
Having regard to the fact that the Parliamentary Secretary has not answered the question, will he state how long it has taken to clean the portraits in question or, if they are not cleaned, how long the cleaning operation will take?
If the Deputy had been here yesterday or had read my reply, he would know that point was covered.
With respect, no. The Deputy was present and has since read the reply. The Parliamentary Secretary has not yet said how long it takes to clean three portraits. If I am to base my supplementary questions on the reply given yesterday, will the Parliamentary Secretary state are we to understand that only one cleaner of portraits is available in this country, and that it has taken nine months to clean them as a result? Surely there is another cleaner available.
I am well aware that the Deputy is not interested in how long it takes to clean the portraits. I have no intention of raking up old unhappy far-off things and battles long ago. If the Deputy and his colleagues wish to do so, that is their concern.
The Parliamentary Secretary has not replied to my question. I have asked if there was not more than one portrait cleaner available. If there was more than one, why was he not brought in to do the work? Would the Parliamentary Secretary answer that question? I am concerned with last year, not with what happened before he and I were born.
The Deputy is under a misapprehension, possibly innocently so. If so, he must be the only member of the House who is not aware that major reconstruction work is, and has been, taking place here and that there was no vital hurry about the cleaning of the portraits. I want to point out that besides the three portraits in question, paintings of President de Valera, Mr. W.T. Cosgrave, Mr. Robert Barton and Mr. John A. Costello were removed from the House, and the Deputy has not objected to that. Also ten pictures from the Taylor Bequest were taken down in the restaurant and the bar, and the Deputy has not objected to that. Why he picks on these three is beyond me.
I may object to the others next week. I am now concerned with those three portraits which were viciously and cheaply taken down nine months ago for cleaning and have not yet been returned. Would the Parliamentary Secretary please answer the question?
I answered it yesterday.
With your permission, a Cheann Comhairle, I propose to raise this matter on the Adjournment. The Parliamentary Secretary has not replied to my question.
