Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 5 Jul 1995

Vol. 455 No. 5

Written Answers. - Disposal of Artefacts.

Síle de Valera

Question:

75 Miss de Valera asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht if the artefacts found on a wreck (details supplied) in Kinnagoe Bay, near Moyville were ever sold to the Ulster Museum; and if so, the possibility of these artefacts being returned to Donegal. [12493/95]

Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (Mr. M. Higgins)

The Wreck of the Trinidad Valencera, which sank in Kinnagoe Bay, Co. Donegal in 1588, was discovered by members of the City of Derry Sub-Aqua Club in the early seventies. The wreck was within this jurisdiction and the material recovered over a few years was delivered to the Receiver of Wreck in Letterkenny. As the National Museum did not, at the time, have the facilities to conserve this material, its conservation was undertaken by the Ulster Museum. The long-term loan to the Ulster Museum was formalised in 1979.

The Ulster Museum then made a proposal to the Irish authorities to buy the material. It was decided that the Ulster Museum should pay a nominal sum of £10 on condition that it would, at the same time, also reimburse the expenses of Derry Sub-Aqua Club and on condition that the material would eventually be put on display in Derry in a suitable building.

The material was formally handed over at a ceremony on 1 October 1982 at which the then Taoiseach, Mr. Charles J. Haughey, TD, presided.

Earlier this year Derry City Council opened the Tower Museum which contains some of the wreck's items lent by the Ulster Museum on a long term basis. More items are to be lent as the Tower Museum's resources provide.

Since the items were formally sold to the Ulster Museum it has acquired legal title to them, and the issue of their possible return on a permanent basis does not, therefore, arise.

Any other items subsequently recovered from the above wreck would be approached within the general context of long term display and loan policies of the National Museum. Such policies in the present context would have regard to the most appropriate place for such items to be located.

Micheál Martin

Question:

76 D'fhiafraigh Mr. Martin den Aire Ealaíon, Cultúir agus Gaeltachta, anois go bhfuil an tAire i gceannas na Roinne le breis is dhá bhliain, an bhfuil sé tar éis cuairt a thabhairt ar na ceantracha Gaeltachta uilig anois. [12504/95]

Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (Mr. M. Higgins)

Ó ceapadh mar Aire Ealaíon, Cultúir agus Gaeltachta mé don chéad uair i mí Eanáir 1995, tá cuairt tugtha agam ar a lán ceantair Ghaeltachta ar fud na tíre. Beidh gach deis á glacadh agam chun cuairt a thabhairt ar cheantair eile amach anseo.