Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 29 Jan 1998

Vol. 486 No. 2

Written Answers. - National Museum Acquisitions.

Enda Kenny

Question:

169 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the acquisitions made under each heading by the National Museum in each of the past three years; the instructions, if any, she has given to the National Museum in respect of acquisitions for 1998; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2270/98]

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands (Miss de Valera)

The National Museum is divided into four divisions as follows: Irish antiquities, folklife, natural history and art and industry.

The Irish antiquities division of the Museum is the repository for archaeological objects. Highlights in this collection collected in the past three years include a Viking decorated lead-weight, a Viking silver bracelet, a bronze cannon from a Spanish Armada ship, Trinidad Valencera, and a Late Bronze Age bracelet in gold from Mooghaun, County Clare. The number of objects acquired since 1995 are as follows: 1995: 2,013 (as a result of the provisions contained in the National Monuments Act, 1994); 1996: 221; 1997:70.

The folklife divisions collection describes the people of Ireland's domestic and intimate history from c. 1800 to c. 1950. While there are no particular highlights, each one being unique, the collection includes artisan tools, furniture, settle beds, and clothing used by ordinary people. The division acquired approximately 300 items in each of the years 1995 to 1997 inclusive. Also in 1997 the division acquired the contents of a museum in Shrule, County Mayo, which closed down during that year.

The natural history division holds the geological, zoological, and entomological archives of the people of Ireland. Examples include 269 slides of aphids from England, Irish centipedes and millipedes, cave bear bones excavated at Armagh and a collection of birds eggs from St. Declan's School, Waterford. The number of objects acquired since 1995 are as follows: 1995: 68 lots; 1996: 55 lots; 1997: 62 lots. Lot describes a collection which can mean one single specimen or up to 10,000 specimens (as in the case of the Washington insect collection which contains c.10,000 specimens).

The art and industrial division holds the national historical and decorative arts collections. The aim of the Division is to document the social, economic, military and political history of Ireland and, in the decorative arts, to relate Ireland's development in social, artistic, etc., matters to that in Europe, particularly from about 1700 AD. A breakdown of the acquisitions by the division are listed hereunder.

Category	1995	1996	1997
Silver	114	4	12
Historical	83	44	5
Ceramic and glass	4	4	18
Scientific instruments	14	–	–
Textiles	12	30	9
Coins and medals	4	2	2
Philately	900	900	900
Furniture/musical instruments	–	6	4

Examples of acquisitions by the division in 1997 include the dagger owned by Lord Edward Fitzgerald and the Shackleton material.

It has been the ongoing policy of successive Ministers with responsibility for the National Museum of Ireland not to dictate its acquisition policy.