I think the picture of the Minister for Justice busying himself to raid another henroost in order that we may reassure ourselves that we live not by bread alone is a glorious picture. We are bustling off to the Bank of Nova Scotia to borrow a few shillings one day and the next day we turn to the funds of suitors to do what we cannot afford to do out of our own resources. However, since we are raiding henroosts——
Committee on Finance. - Funds of Suitors Bill, 1966: Committee and Final Stages.
Section 1 agreed to.
SECTION 2.
Question proposed: "That section 2 stand part of the Bill."
Cocklofts, too.
The Minister for Industry and Commerce is sitting in the Diplomats' gallery. I do not blame him for seeking not to associate with his colleague in present circumstances. There are certain aspects of this matter to which I think the attention of the House should be directed. On the Second Stage of this Bill, we have accepted the principle that this is a hen-roost which, in our present circumstances, should be raided so that we may live not by bread alone.
I want to sound a loud alarm in this House in regard to certain national treasures which are in dire peril and for which provision ought to be made out of the raid we are at present making on the fund of suitors. I have no complaint to make about the purposes which the Minister has outlined but there are certain grave emergencies present which I think Deputies are unaware of. We have assembled here, largely as a result of the incomparable exertions of a unique man, Professor Delargy, a great treasure of folklore. It is probably the greatest store of folklore in the world —and I say that advisedly. Now, this entire deposit of all the records and all the wealth of this great work is at present housed in an old Georgian house in Dublin.
I am sorry to interrupt Deputy Dillon but this matter does not, I feel, arise on this section. The debate on the section is confined to what is in the section.
Subsection (2) provides:
Notwithstanding anything contained in subsection (4) of section 4 of the Central Fund Act, 1956, the Capital Fund may, to the extent to which it represents the sums paid to it pursuant to this section, be applied for or towards the rebuilding of the Abbey Theatre (including the Peacock Theatre), Dublin, and the Opera House, Cork.
Subsection (4) provides:
Any sums paid to the Exchequer (not being sums paid under subsection (3) of this section) in respect of the rebuilding of the Peacock Theatre shall be paid to the Capital Fund.
Surely I am entitled to say, in regard to a section which provides for the disposal of part of the funds of suitors, that the purposes set out in the section are not adequate?
Amendments along those lines by Deputy S. Dunne were ruled out of order as they were outside the scope of the subject matter of the section.
So that we are now in the position that we cannot discuss the propriety of the disposal of the funds at all?
Except what is contained in section 2.
I cannot argue that to use all the funds for this purpose, when other more urgent purposes exist, is imprudent?
That would be relevant on the Second Stage but not on the section.
But it will be relevant on the Fifth Stage?
The Fifth Stage is confined to what is contained in the Bill.
I am concerned to wake Deputies up to the fact that we have this treasure and that, if anyone sets fire to a lump of paper some night, the whole thing may go up in flames. Would the Minister, for heaven's sake, avail of this time, either to gather the materials into the National Library or to get them micro-filmed so that a record will be preserved in the National Library? If something is not done, the whole treasure may be lost. There is no means of replacing it. The people who provided it are dead and gone. If Séamus Delargy had not interested himself in this matter over the past 35 years, all this treasure would irrevocably be lost. The cost is trivial.
Here is an eminently suitable source for which I bespeak the Minister's interest now. I want to suggest to the House that, in our circumstances, unless we are in a strong enough financial position, which we manifestly are not, to provide fireproof storage for a variety of libraries in this house, we should follow the British Museum procedure of entrusting all its great deposits like the King's Inns Library, the Dean Swift Library and all these other great accumulations of incalculable value, to the safe keeping of the National Library, providing, if necessary, a complete annexe to this National Library which can remain, by name, Dean Swift Library or King's Inns Library but so constructed that if there is a fire catastrophe, there will be modern methods to ensure that the contents are not destroyed. Although I believe this matter to be urgent in respect of all the libraries, there is one outstanding case which is in imminent peril and which I most earnestly exhort the Dáil to concern itself to protect, that is, the archives of the Folklore Commission.
This is precisely the line I had in mind with regard to the King's Inns Library and that libraries should be grouped under the administration of the National Library. I shall certainly bring the other matter to the attention of my colleague, the Minister for Education. I think that in general what the Deputy says is right—that we should group these under a single expert administration and the National Library would seem to be the best choice.
Where fire shall not have its way.
Question put and agreed to.
Sections 3 and 4 agreed to.
Title agreed to.
Bill reported without amendment and received for final consideration.
Question proposed: "That the Bill do now pass".
On the Final Stage, may I make one other inquiry? I notice that provision is made for a variety of needs, notably the Abbey Theatre and the Cork Opera House, but may I draw the attention of the Minister for Justice, who is responsible for this Bill, to another matter for which this Bill does not appear to provide? There is another inestimable treasure which we are unique in holding, that is, the treasure of the place names of Ireland. There is assembled at present in London a great international congress of people who describe themselves by a generic term as those concerned for the preservation of place names all over the world. The Institute of Higher Studies has taken over from a relatively small body the duty of preserving the place names of Ireland and I believe that this work is held up simply for the money to pay the men and women to go out and record place names before they are forgotten.
I can best illustrate this to my colleagues, every one of whom has the same solicitude as myself in this regard, by telling them that the very townland from which my people came would have been forgotten but for the fact that when I was young, I met an old woman who knew my great grandmother. But for that, the very existence of that place name would have vanished, the link is now so tenuous and there must be thousands of place names in Ireland which are forgotten. My people came from Lissian but the place name of the district is another name which at the moment escapes my memory. When you are 64, that may be overlooked. I have recorded it.
However, I want to emphasise that the link is so tenuous that when you apply it to that one place, it begins to dawn on you that these links are breaking all over Ireland. We have in London a congress of scholars drawn from all over the world to pool their common knowledge of the place names of their countries. What we want are a few trained personnel to go out to the countryside and collect the names from the people who still know them. We have in the Institute a staff who are capable of collating and preserving them forever. They are the very essence of the whole social history of our people. I am drawing to the attention of the appropriate Minister, whether it is the Minister for Justice or the Minister for Finance, or whether it is the Taoiseach himself, this urgent work because it is literally true to say that every day that passes irreparable losses are occurring which nobody can repair.
The Department of Education are in charge of this particular work and I shall bring it to the notice of the Minister for Education. I do not know what the current progress is.
Question put and agreed to.