At the outset may I say I will be sharing my time with Senator Murphy, and may I also welcome the Minister to the House this evening. The condition of our National Library and our National Museum constitutes at this stage a scandal of enormous proportions and is an indictment of Governments, past and present. In cultural terms this is not a particularly rich country. We are not rich in cultural artifacts. We do not have the large numbers of public institutions, museums, art galleries and so on which one may find in other countries but we have here beside us two institutions, two buildings, which should be the richest jewels in our national crown. The situation, unfortunately, is exactly the opposite. Both the National Museum and the National Library are a national disgrace.
Last Friday I spoke to a very distinguished journalist who is a member of the National Heritage Council and who was almost in tears as he described to me a visit he had made to the National Museum, when he was brought into the vast caverns, some of which are actually under this House, and where he saw stored there priceless relics of our past, priceless artifacts from the War of Independence back to the earliest days, from our history in the 30s and 40s back to earliest times. These artifacts are there, some in a state of disrepair, some in a state where certainly their condition is not improving, and all of them kept from the examination, from the view, of the people of Ireland who are the people who should be able to enjoy the richness of our national heritage. The situation is almost as dramatically bad in the National Library. I will come to that in a moment.
I also want to be very positive this evening because I think both these institutions are in a situation to make a new beginning. Each has a new director — in each case a young, dynamic person, Dr. Pat Wallace in the Museum, Dr. Pat Donnellan in the National Library. I think at this stage we, as the Oireachtas, should turn our attentions without party rancour, to the situation in which we now find ourselves. I would urge Members of both Houses to visit the National Library and to visit the National Museum, to ask to be shown the situation at first hand, to see for themselves just what exactly it is we are talking about.
We should also apply our minds to ways in which we can ensure that these institutions get the sort of funding which they deserve. For example, I have often thought that the Custom House, one of the most beautiful buildings in Dublin, is not a proper place for a Department of Government, that, on the contrary, it could be a marvellous National Museum. There is enough material already stored in the vaults I mentioned earlier. If, with the development of the Customs House Docks site, the Custom House itself could be developed into phase II of our National Museum, what an adornment, what a jewel, that would be to the city of Dublin and to the country.
Of course, the National Library needs extra space. It needs an additional building. It needs purpose-built buildings to store much of the material which is there. We have seen in recent days a number of developments which have highlighted the problems of the Library in particular. We saw the theft of a priceless 16th century map of Munster from the Library. The lack of proper security there is something which is, without overusing the term, a national disgrace. There are many other items there which may well be in constant threat of theft.
We have seen a reduction in the number of library assistants in the National Library. It has fallen drastically over the past few years. There used to be 12 assistants; last September the number fell to five. Since Christmas their number is down to three. A few weeks ago, after Denis McClean's excellent report in the Evening Press, which revealed for the first time the theft of the map, there was a notice in the papers looking for a library assistant as a matter of urgency. Perhaps the Minister, this evening, could clarify the staffing position in the National Library. In this day and age, looking after security should not be the job of library assistants on the floor. The National Library, which houses so many priceless records and treasures, should have the most sophisticated, advanced electronic and video equipment so that there would be unobtrusive but continuous control in all parts of the Library open to the public.
The case of the locker room in the National Library illustrates the lack of facilities. Only very recently has a locker room actually been provided where users can deposit their bags, coats, etc. Facilities of this sort are standard in libraries throughout the country, but the National Library did not have one of these for decades despite the fact that one was first requested in 1928.
We come now to the question of what actually is in the National Library, and the recent theft highlights a very important question. I believe there should be a full investigation, through whatever means are available to the Library, to find out if anything is missing. As somebody who has used the Library over very many years, somebody who loves the Library very much, I have often felt that the surveillance and security there leaves a great deal to be desired. I would not be surprised if there are many items catalogued in the Library which are missing and which may have been missing for very many years. I would like to know if anything is being done to establish just whether items are missing, what items are missing, what steps are being taken or have been taken to find these and what steps are being taken to ensure that this type of situation is very quickly brought under control. Do we know if documents and items in the Library have been damaged? This is a further question which I would like — probably the Minister cannot answer this evening — to see addressed.
As I said, as legislators and, indeed, as a people we have shamefully neglected our Library and its treasures down through the years. It has suffered greatly from being a relatively small division in the Department of Education for most of that time. Shortly before the last Government left office, responsibility for the National Library was transferred to the Department of the Taoiseach where it could receive greater attention in the arts and cultural division. In that Department there is a very hard-working, very dedicated and very imaginative staff who would be willing and anxious to put into operation all sorts of improvements in the National Library if they were given the facilities and the money.
Various groups and individuals have spoken out about the conditions in the National Library in recent times. On 8 February, the trade union group pointed out that thick layers of dust and dirt cover many areas of the Library and that valuable and unique collections are exposed to hazardous temperature fluctuations, poor handling and risk of theft. A few weeks ago, Michael Yeats, a very distinguished former Member of this House, criticised the conditions in the Library while opening an exhibition of papers of his father W. B. Yeats. He made very unfavourable comparisons between the facilities existing in our National Library and those in the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales. Thankfully, the decision to close the Library in the evenings and on Saturdays was rescinded by the Taoiseach's Department. I welcome that, but I would like to see this as the beginning of a number of very wide-ranging improvements.
In conclusion, what I am saying this evening is very much a cry from the heart. The condition of the National Library is, as I said, a national disgrace. I am not pin-pointing this Government or any Government; it is something which has built up over the years. At the very time when we were talking about our great commitment to our cultural heritage we were ignoring the two greatest exemplars of this on our very doorstep. We have an opportunity now, with Dublin about to be named Cultural Capital of Europe in 1991, to place the restoration of the Library and the Museum at the very top of our national cultural agenda. It behoves us to see that this is done. It behoves us to ensure that every support which this House and the Oireachtas can give to the National Library and to the National Museum be given.
I believe that the climate now exists where there would be significant public support for a move of this kind. I believe the climate is right and that private individuals and many of our larger firms would be prepared, if properly approached with a proper programme, to invest significantly in restoring the National Library and the Museum. I believe that a proper, imaginative programme backed by Government to involve the private sector in developments of this kind would meet with a very welcome and very open response. However, I have to warn the House this evening that the clock is now at five to twelve — we do not have very much time. We must make this a priority. I would like to get from the Minister this evening an assurance that the Government are taking the National Library and the Museum as being worthy of that priority and that we will get deeds, funding and action for a change.
