asked the Minister for Finance if he will state in relation to a volume (title supplied), published by the Stationery Office, the number of copies printed, and the estimated profit or loss which will arise from its publication.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Stationery Office Publication.
500 copies of Vol. III Correspondence of Emily, Duchess of Leinster (1731-1814) were printed. A loss is likely to be incurred on the publication but it is impossible at this stage to be certain about the extent of the loss as it will depend on further sales.
Does the Minister think that it is wise or desirable at this stage to expend so much on this volume the cost of which is 50/-? Is the Minister aware that the material contained in this volume has little or no bearing on the actual life of the people at the time? Does he think it wise, under the circumstances, to have public money wasted in such manner as it is being wasted in the production of a volume like this?
I should like first to correct a misstatement of the Deputy's. The sale price of the volume is £2 10s. but I would have thought that a Deputy, with the very strong Republican tendencies of Deputy McQuillan, would not resent the fact that we are publishing the correspondence of the mother of Lord Edward Fitzgerald.
The Minister may not be aware but it was not the mother of Lord Edward Fitzgerald but his aunt who wrote the letters. Is the Minister further aware that this volume contains nothing but lists or tit-bits of aristocratic matchmaking, elopements and divorces and does he consider that this is in line with his Republican tendencies?
My Republican tendencies are beyond question; the Deputy's are still suspect. In any event, I wish to express my regret that I was not correct about the exact relationship but I do think that the study of Irish history even of the type suggested by the Deputy, of the mode of living and social habits of the governing classes——
The Minister has not got a clue what the question is about.
——and the people of that period, has some interest for the Irishmen of this generation.
First, it was the mother-in-law and it will be the grandmother before the Minister is finished.