andMr. Griffin asked the Taoiseach whether he has written to the Board of the National College of Art and Design concerning their premises in Kildare Street, Dublin, and if so, the terms of his letter and the reply, if any, he has received.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - National College of Art and Design.
1.
Dr. FitzGerald
As every Deputy knows, there is a pressing need for extra accommodation for the Houses of the Oireachtas in the immediate vicinity of Leinster House.
The only early possibility of relieving the serious overcrowding and congestion which exists at present and which will be further aggravated with increased Dáil membership, is the provision of accommodation in the premises occupied by the National College of Art and Design, which are the only ones available close to the Houses of the Oireachtas.
These premises have long since been recognised by the staff and students alike as being unsuitable and inadequate for the purposes of the college. I have been in correspondence with the Chairman of the Board of the National College of Art and Design about the Board vacating these premises.
The matter is still under discussion. When it is brought to a conclusion, I will inform the House of the outcome.
When was the Taoiseach first in correspondence with the board on this subject?
I was first in contact with them in the early part of this year.
Could the Taoiseach comment on the situation which now exists? Is he aware that the House was told by the Minister for Education on the adjournment last week that the plans for the move into the proposed new temporary premises are still being made by the architect at this stage and it is a long time after the early part of this year? Is the Taoiseach aware that there are very considerable doubts as to the feasibility of the move being made and that the board and the union concerned are unhappy with the situation where they are being required to move when the Taoiseach has not acted in time to get the alternative premises available?
I am sorry I have not got the exact dates available to me now but as soon as I became aware of the situation early this year I undertook immediate action to endeavour to have the college of art premises made available to the Oireachtas. My understanding of the position is that the college of art premises are presently being examined by the Office of Public Works with a view to bringing forward some plans for alterations. At the same time efforts are being made to secure alternative accommodation for the college in premises which are, to different degrees, attractive to different elements in the college.
The House is appreciative of the Taoiseach's efforts to provide additional accommodation for Deputies and Senators and indeed of his efforts generally to improve the facilities here. I would like to preface anything I say with that. But there is a problem. Is the Taoiseach aware that the possibility of the move to Power's distillery is now increasingly remote because the architect's plans are not yet completed and the Federated Workers' Union of Ireland have expressed solidarity with the board in regard to this issue and have laid down certain requirements for the conversion of the distillery which are very unlikely to be fulfilled in the time available? Whatever the Taoiseach's intentions when he arranged the matter, the failure to carry through at other levels has left a situation where the board is threatened with having to move somewhere which will not be ready and capable of housing the different departments of the college of art. The House, of course, is correspondingly uncertain as to whether it will have additional accommodation.
I accept it is not a satisfactory situation, from anybody's point of view. It is not satisfactory from our point of view here as Members of the Oireachtas. The existing premises in which the college of art have had to function for so long are totally inadequate and unsuitable and even dangerous to some extent. The only thing I can assure the House of is that every effort is being made to try to meet the needs of the Houses of the Oireachtas and the college. Some elements in the National College of Art are, I understand very favourably disposed towards Power's distillery as a permanent home for the college of art for a variety of reasons. I understand other elements in the college structure are not so enamoured of the Power's distillery premises. That is something which will have to be resolved at college level. But so far as we are concerned, we are doing everything possible to facilitate the college in establishing itself in some new suitable premises either on a temporary basis or on a permanent basis.
This will be the final supplementary from Deputy Griffin.
This is my first supplementary.
It will also be the final one. We have spent eight minutes on this.
I feel we should spend a lot longer on it if necessary.
Not at Question Time.
We spent longer on a circus here last Wednesday when the Minister would not answer a question.
Deputy Kelly should not introduce a circus at this stage of the day.
We appreciate the dilemma in which the Taoiseach and his Government find themselves. Would the Taoiseach not agree that the deadline set by the Minister for Education to have the premises next door to us vacated is now totally unrealistic and that there is an unseemly confrontation imminent between the Government and the National College of Art and Design?
I would certainly seek to avoid any element of confrontation in this matter because, whilst all of us in the House are very anxious to secure the sort of accommodation we need to enable us to perform efficiently or at least at some level of efficiency, at the same time we recognise the fundamental importance of the college in the cultural scheme of things. It is a question of trying to reconcile these conflicting interests. I was very encouraged by the preference which was expressed by a number of people in the college for the Power's distillery premises. It seemed to me that that was a very suitable solution to the problem. The only difficulty was in getting it effected as quickly as possible and that is under way. I should remind the House that the Department of Education have been trying to get the college out of its existing premises for 27 years now, so that if we have to take a month or two extra at this stage to make sure that everybody is satisfied in the end, it is worth doing. I had hoped that we would be able to get into the college of art premises by Easter but that would have seriously disrupted the college's programme of classes and teaching and examinations and so on. On that basis the move was postponed until July. I am still hoping that some appropriate solution to these accommodation problems for both the college and ourselves will be found and brought into effect expeditiously.
Further arising——
We must move on to the next question. We have spent ten minutes on the first question and there are many other questions on the Order Paper.
——from the reply, is the Taoiseach aware that Power's distillery is not the choice of the board and that the Earlsfort Terrace premises or Iveagh House are considered much more suitable?
We must move on to Question No. 2.
We are dealing with a very important question concerning a national institute.
We must not engage in argument on the question. I shall allow a final reply from the Taoiseach.
We on this side of the House shall facilitate the Taoiseach in every respect in bringing about an amicable solution to this problem.
The Deputy is now making a statement.
What I should like to undertake in this matter is, through the Whips, to keep both parties informed fully of every step we are taking.
I am grateful to the Taoiseach for that offer and for the indication of his willingness to be flexible in regard to the deadline for the college.