Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 September 2013
18. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the progress he has made in securing the return of the Annals of Inisfallen to the Irish State; the communications has he had with the University of Oxford in this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38454/13]
View answerThe Annals of Inisfallen are part of the collection of the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The Annals were first written in AD 1092 in Emly, Co. Tipperary, and later at other Munster religious houses, including, it is thought, Tuamgraney, Killaloe and Lismore, before passing to Inisfallen in the middle of the 12th Century.
Copies of the facsimile of the Annals of Inisfallen, published by the Royal Irish Academy in 1933, and copies of the manuscript are available at the National Library of Ireland and at three of our major universities - Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork and NUI Galway. A full transcript of the text of the Annals of Inisfallen is available online through the good work of the CELT website (based at UCC) - http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/T100004/
I understand that the Annals have previously been loaned for exhibition in Ireland by the Bodleian Library. In the context of the refurbishment of Muckross House in Killarney, it is my intention to raise the matter with the library authorities at the appropriate time to ascertain the conditions under which the Annals of Inisfallen might be exhibited close to the location from which they derive their name.
