Vote 21—Miscellaneous Expenses.

Mr. MacEntee

I move:—

Go ndeontar suim ná raghaidh thar £6,755 chun slánuithe na suime is gá chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh lá de Mhárta, 1936, chun Costaisí Ilghnéitheacha áirithe, maraon le Deontaisí áirithe i gCabhair.

That a sum not exceeding £6,755 be granted to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1936, for certain Miscellaneous Expenses, including certain Grants-in-Aid.

Mr. Esmonde

I notice there is an increase in the Vote for the Abbey Theatre. I have no special objection to it this year, but I must say it is becoming rather a national monument, rather fossilised. If it does not show a little more liveliness. I think we should not continue this Vote through the years. I think the theatre should be allowed to rest on its laurels, and it should show a little more initiative. With regard to sub-head C—Scientific Investigation, etc.—I am glad to see the Minister has increased the amount for various scientific societies. The increase is very small, but nevertheless I am glad to see it. I hope the Minister read very carefully the address given a couple of days ago by Dr. Thomas Bodkin, in which he put forth some very good home truths. I will refer to that matter later, when the Vote for the Department of Education comes under discussion.

Some years ago I had occasion to mention that I thought the various small Votes dealing with scientific and cultural matters should be brought together under one heading. Here today we have had to deal with the Stationery Office, the Ordnance Survey, Commissions and Special Inquiries, and now Miscellaneous Expenses. Later on, we will come to deal with Science and Art. We have a large number of small Votes dealing with precisely the same matters—the publication of texts, translations from the Irish language, etc.—and I think it is high time that some co-ordination should be brought about between these various activities. There is a great waste of effort when various small societies, or small authorities, are doing work individually which together they could do very much better. However, that would be more a matter for the Minister for Education, and I will raise it when we come to the Vote dealing with Science and Art. I hope the Minister for Finance who is, I understand, a co-ordinating power amongst various Departments, will give favourable consideration to the proposal put forward by Dr. Bodkin, that there should be a central department for cultural activities in the State.

Mr. Corish

What is the real reason for £1,000 being given to the Abbey Theatre? There is a lot of confusion about that matter.

Mr. Hogan (Clare):

This particular matter always reminds me of a kind of penny dip for every Government that is in power. I am rather intrigued to know what is the reason for this eternal subsidising of the Abbey Theatre. What is wrong with Irish life that it cannot be presented in such an attractive form as will bring people to the theatre? What is wrong with Irish life that it cannot be presented in such an attractive form as to change queues from outside our picture houses and place them outside our theatres? For some years past the Abbey Theatre has been endeavouring to make the Irish peasant stand on his head. We are granting £1,000 to a theatre which has a very limited appeal. What the Abbey Theatre presents has a very limited appeal. It does not extend to the general public; it does not extend even to the entire public of Dublin City, where the theatre is situated. It is no harm it does not go down the country, because the Irish peasant would never, in the mirror reflected by the Abbey Theatre, recognise or understand himself at all.

What is there sacred in drama that we must subsidise it eternally and leave everything else out of consideration? Has the Minister ever taken a journey in a fast train, walked down the corridor and observed all the people reading magazines published across the water, and for which they have to pay an extra penny or two? Has it ever occurred to him to subsidise an Irish-produced magazine which would present suitable reading to the Irish public and get nearer to the people, rather than subsidise a theatre in the heart of the City of Dublin, about which the majority of the people of Dublin know nothing, and which the people of the country never see? We find a great deal of attention being given to the Abbey actors in London and America, but after all, it is not to amuse the people of London or New York, or Chicago, that we should subsidise that particular theatre. I suggest to him that there are various other things on which he might usefully spend that £1,000 other than in subsidising these institutions that are making the Irish peasant ridiculous, and making him stand on his head, for the past 30 years.

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 27 Jun 1935