My case will be very brief. The Minister is a liberal minded man and I hope he will listen to my plea to reverse this decision. Objection has been voiced to it all over the country. On the board in the National Museum is a notice saying that Treasury of Irish Antiquities admission charges to the Treasury will be introduced as and from Wednesday, 24 September 1986: (1) Adult: £1, special rates for groups; (2) Child 30p; (3) Student 50p, over 18 on production of student card; (4) Family ticket £2; (5) Old age pensioners/ unwaged, free. There will be free admission each Tuesday. It was a retrograde and unfortunate decision to make a charge for admission to the treasury area of Irish Antiquities. After all, this is where some of the great examples of our heritage are kept. I got a brochure in the museum which lists some of the most important ones. As I come from Meath, No. 1 on that list would be the Tara Brooch. It also includes The Broighter Hoard, the Ardagh Chalice, the Petrie Crown, the Derrynaflan Chalice and Paten, the Cross of Cong, St. Patrick's Bell and its Shrine, the Crozier of the Abbots of Clonmacnoise, Domnach Airgid Shrine and many more which are listed in "Celtic Ireland", another brochure.
It is unfortunate that in effect we are preventing people from visiting and examining our heritage. It is unfortunate that at a time when the environment is of such importance, when Bills have come before this House, for instance the Air Pollution Bill, and when we are trying to convince our young people of the importance of being patriotic, we are denying people access to these treasures. That is most unfortunate with regard to schools who have pupils interested in the aesthetics and design of Irish antiquities.
What income is expected to accrue from these charges and what is the cost of collecting them? One of my major objections is that this is the thin edge of the wedge. Once this has been established and accepted, the next step will be to increase the charges, or perhaps to have a charge for other areas of the museum and this is unacceptable.
I am not too sure about charges elsewhere in Europe, but I visited most of the major museums in London about two months ago and there were no admission charges into any of them. In the British Museum there was a request for voluntary subscriptions but nobody was kept out if they did not make a subscription. Even if there are admission charges to museums in the rest of Europe, so what? Do we have to follow by having those charges?
People will suffer a loss by not being able to go to the museum. There is free access on Tuesday so already the museum is rather packed on Tuesdays and there are very few visitors on other days. Special arrangements are made to cater for the public, to give them an opportunity to visit the museum, both in regard to the time and to the days on which it is open. The museum is closed on Monday and is open on Saturday and on all other days for the convenience of the public. It is infortunate, therefore, that this decision has been made. There is disquiet in many other areas where charges are made. I saw a letter in most of the papers last week about admission charges to our national monuments. That is a mistake.
Senator Cassidy made the point about VAT on the wax museum although it is an area which should be considered in the general context of tourism and education. By not being able to go to that area of the national Museum, people are losing out. The decision was very wrong. I appeal to the Minister to realise that it was a wrong decision. I am not concerned about this for any ulterior motive, but only from the point of view that the treasures held there are unique. While I anticipate that the Minister will say the charges are not excessive, they have resulted in the museum being almost empty every day of the week, apart from Tuesday when admission is free.
I honestly feel that the Minister, Deputy Nealon, who is a very liberal minded man was and is genuinely concerned with the arts. Disquiet has been expressed by many people and the Minister is quite aware of this through the media. I do not want to overplay the point but I hope the Minister will agree with me that it was a wrong decision and an unfortunate decision. The amount of money which it will bring in will be minimal. The cost of bringing in that money would, in my view, be more than the overall cost when taking everything into consideration. At this stage it would be easy to reverse the decision. There would be no loss of face. As far as I am concerned it is not a matter of routine. I am genuinely concerned about it and I feel the decision was wrong.
I appeal to the Minister to re-examine the situation with regard to everything I have said, with regard to the treasures that are there and with regard to bringing pupils from different parts of the country. The Minister will understand in regard to groups of school children and people from rural areas coming to Dublin that it is not always possible to come on Tuesday. This would cause problems in schools and other areas. I appeal to the Minister in the light of what I have said and from the information which the Minister will be aware of that the proper procedure now would be to reverse that decision and to give free admission as obtains in all the major museums in London. There is in the British museum provision for voluntary subscriptions from those who want to make that subscription. If they cannot subscribe for one reason or another they are not prevented from visiting the museum. Having regard to the extent of the British museum compared to the size of ours — leaving aside the value of the heritage — one could spend a week in the British museum going from one section to another. I would earnestly ask the Minister to reverse the decision.
