asked the Minister for Education if he will furnish details of the occasions on which the export of works of art was controlled by his Department.
29.
Written Answers. - Works of Art.
28.
asked the Minister for Education if he has ever applied section 2, subsections 2 and 3, of the Documents and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act, 1945; and, if so, if he will give details.
30.
asked the Minister for Education if, under the Documents and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act, 1945, he has ever referred to outside sources for advice as to the export of any work of art; and, if so, if he will furnish details of each case.
31.
asked the Minister for Education if he has ever applied section 4 (2) of the Documents and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act, 1945; and, if so, if he will give details of each case.
32.
asked the Minister for Education the number of prosecutions under the Documents and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act, 1945 during the past ten years; and the outcome of such prosecutions.
33.
asked the Minister for Education if he has ever referred to the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art any modern painting or sculpture under the Documents and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act, 1945; and, if so, if he will give details of each.
34.
asked the Minister for Education if he has referred, under any section of the Documents and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act, 1945, to any of the directors of the Institution of Science and Art; and, if so, if he will give details in each case.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle Questions Nos. 28 to 34 are being taken together.
In relation to the matters referred to in the Deputy's questions the statutory function of the Minister for Education derives from the Documents and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act, 1945, which provides that the Minister shall, on application, grant a licence for the export of an article to which the Act applies. Before issuing a licence he may, under the Act, request facilities to make photographic copies of the article which it is proposed to export and in such case the licence shall not be granted unless the request has been complied with.
Numerous applications are made each year for export licences under the Act. In the year 1976 the number of licences granted was 333. No order has been made under section 2 (2) of the Act. Under section 2 (3) of the Act an order entitled "the Document and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Exclusion Order, 1946"—Statutory Rules and Orders 1946, No. 334—was made, which provided for the exclusion from the operation of the Act of "documents being title deeds of properties lodged with a bank as security and passing between the head offices and branches of banks in the ordinary course of business".
All applications for licences under the Act are referred to the Director of the National Library for action on behalf of the Minister. The question of referring applications to outside sources for advice does not arise. Sculpture is not governed by the Act. Under subsection 4 (2) of the Act facilities for the making of photographic copies of the following were requested by the Minister and granted to him before licences were issued: a portrait of Parnell, the Gormanstown register, and parts of certain books from the King's Inns Library.
The question of prosecution does not arise under the Act.