asked the Minister for Finance when the Kennedy Memorial Committee last met; when it is proposed that they shall meet again; and when it is proposed to commence work on the Kennedy Memorial Hall.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Kennedy Memorial Hall.
59.
The Kennedy Memorial Hall All-Party Committee last met on 15th June, 1967. I propose to call another meeting of the committee at an early convenient date to discuss the next appropriate step.
That is much the same answer as I got in reply to a question which I put down before. Could the Minister give me more detailed information of the date on which the committee are likely to be called? Could the Minister allay the general feeling among the public that the Government have gone cold on this particular proposition and do not intend to pursue it at all? It is quite obvious from the date given—which is four years ago— that the Government are not particularly enthusiastic about the proposal any more.
At this stage I cannot say on what date the committee will meet. I would hope that an effort would be commenced within a week or ten days to find a suitable and mutually convenient date for a meeting. I cannot comment on the second part of the Deputy's supplementary. I think it is necessary to have a meeting before any further comment can be made on this matter.
Is it a fact that there is no money available for this hall?
I do not think I can comment on that until after the meeting, except to say that there are, as everybody knows, considerable pressures on our resources, both capital and current, and the question of priority comes into this.
Would the Minister agree that the building of a £1 million racecourse at Leopardstown is a peculiar form of priority for our society to adopt? Surely if we can find £1 million for a racecourse we can do something about building a memorial hall to this man?
I am not aware of the fact that we provided money for building a racecourse at Leopardstown.
Our community did. Surely we should have our priorities right?
The Deputy is talking about the State and not the community providing money. The distinction I am making is in the context in which the Deputy used the word.
We can take it that the scheme is being shelved. Kennedy is dead.
If that is what the Deputy wishes to say, I cannot prevent him.