asked the Minister for Education what steps are being taken to fill the vacancies on the staff of the National Museum; whether it is proposed to satisfy the several imperative needs of the Irish Antiquities Division as enumerated in the Report of the Board of Visitors for 1928-1929.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National Museum Staff.
The Civil Service Commission have been asked to recommend a candidate for appointment to the post of Keeper in the Art and Industrial Division. Steps have also been taken, and the necessary sanction has been obtained, for the filling of the vacant post of Keeper in the Natural History Division, and for the appointment of three Assistants, one in each of the three Divisions. It is considered desirable to defer the appointment of the remaining four Assistants owing to the difficulty of training a larger staff of officers of this class if they were all appointed at the same time.
With regard to the second part of the question, the needs of the Irish Antiquities Division of the Museum, which are stated in the Report of the Board of Visitors for 1928-29 to be imperative, are the following:—
(1) additional office accommodation,
(2) a reference library with a sufficient selection of current European Archaeological literature,
(3) adequate provision for travelling expenses,
(4) the filling up of the staff in accordance with the recommendations of the Museum Commission.
The chief difficulty in satisfying these needs is the financial one, and all the proposals or applications for increases in expenditure of this nature must be considered in the light of the State's financial position.
With regard to No. (1) above, the needs of the Museum generally, as regards both office accommodation and exhibition rooms, are at present engaging the attention of the Commissioners of Public Works and of my Department.
As regards Nos. (2) and (3), I am prepared to consider carefully any representations put before me, and to meet the needs of the Museum in these matters, subject to the general financial consideration already mentioned. No. (4) is dealt with in the reply to the first part of the question.