asked the Minister for Education the steps he intends to take to prevent rare books from the Library of the Benchers of the Kings Inns from being exported; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Rare Books Export.
11.
The legal position is that within the provisions of the Documents and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act, 1945, owners of printed books are at liberty to dispose of them.
The terms of the Documents and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act, 1945, are being reviewed for the purpose of ascertaining whether amending legislation may be necessary or desirable.
Has the Parliamentary Secretary received any representations from the National Library, or from other bodies, expressing alarm about the possibility of valuable books being sold outside the country from this Library?
I have no record of having received representations in the very recent past about this. I understand that no definitive decision has been taken by the Benchers of the Kings Inns to dispose of books at this stage. I understand a general appraisal of books of a non-legal character within the Library is being carried out at the moment.
In view of what happened before, would the Parliamentary Secretary not agree that some action should be taken in time to prevent valuable books leaving the country? Is he aware that members of the Academy are worried about manuscripts? He mentioned printed books in his reply.
If the books are in manuscript form, or if they have manuscript annotations, they can be deemed to come within the terms of the 1945 Act. If they are wholly printed, they do not come within the terms of the Act. In the case of books to which the Act applies, it does not allow the Minister to actually prevent their export, but merely requires the making of arrangements for taking a photographic copy of the documents.