Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 26 Mar 1997

Vol. 477 No. 1

Written Answers. - Folklife Collection.

Denis Foley

Question:

125 Mr. Foley asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the reason it was decided to locate the folklife collection facility outside Dublin when the interim board recommended that it be located at Collins Barracks, Dublin. [8450/97]

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

The housing and display of the museum's folklife collection was an issue under discussion for many years before the Collins Barracks facility was considered. I had earmarked £8 million available from the Structural Funds aided allocations under my aegis for a project to house the folklife collection but I envisaged this at a location outside Dublin.

In establishing the interim board of the National Museum in March 1994 I asked it as part of its terms of reference to draw up a five year strategic plan for the museum which would address, among other issues, the "housing of appropriate elements of the Museum's collections, including the national folklife collection at venus outside Dublin having regard to the Collins Barracks development". I saw it as important that regional access to culture and heritage be enhanced by a range of measures including those building up regional cultural infrastruc ture and those making the collections of the key national institutions more accessible. The interim board's second and final report recommended that the folklife collection should be located at Collins Barracks for the reasons of locating coherent integrated exhibitions at Collins Barracks and because it believed this approach would provide economies of scale.

In arriving at my decision on the proposed location of the folklife collection, I considered the report of the interim board, along with a number of proposals for locating the folklife collection in different sites around the country. I considered it consistent with my policy of developing cultural infrastructure throughout the regions to locate part of the national collections outside Dublin. The folklife collection seemed particularly suitable in this regard. However, in order to accommodate the concerns of the interim board regarding the mounting of integrated exhibitions at Collins Barracks I decided in principle that the folklife material necessary for a first class integrated exhibition should be located at Collins Barracks with the balance at Turlough Park House, Castlebar, County Mayo. In this regard I should also point out that a working group in 1992 involving members of the Board of Visitors of the National Museum and National Museum staff considered a number of possible sites for a folklife museum and recommended that, of the locations then under consideration, Turlough Park House would be the preferred option. This project, the outline design and other details of which are currently being assessed, represents a major partnership between the State and a local authority which will provide a significant part of the investment.