I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together.
The manager of the public affairs department of the Electricity Supply Board offered his services, free of charge, to the trustees of the Chester Beatty Library, in December 1988 to carry out a management study of the library. That offer was accepted by the trustees of the Chester Beatty Library in January 1989.
The terms of reference agreed between the consultant and the trustees included a study of the following aspects of the library: organisational structure, staffing, funding/budgeting, commercial sponsorship and marketing-exhibitions. I have not yet received a copy of the consultant's report which was presented to the library in March of this year. I understand that the report has been considered on a preliminary basis by the library's trustees, who will consider it in further detail.
As I have already advised the House on a number of occasions, the trustees are independent in the exercise of their functions under the will of the late Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. That will empowers the trustees to fill vacancies except in three cases — the director of the National Library is ex-officio a trustee, and the President and Taoiseach each has a right to appoint a nominee. Appointments have been made without expiry dates but my personal preference would be for a fixed term. The mandate of the library is entirely governed by the will of Chester Beatty. To attempt to amend that mandate would require legislation and possibly also an application to the courts. I am reluctant to pursue that course of action at present.
I undertook in the House on 25 October 1989, to convey to the trustees the gist of the remarks and anxieties then expressed by a number of Deputies in relation to certain difficulties being experienced in the Chester Beatty Library. I then also indicated that I would ask for the expedition by the trustees of their consideration of the consultant's report. These points were conveyed in a letter, dated 17 November 1989, addressed by my private secretary to the chairman of the trustees. The chairman, Mr. Justice Brian Walsh, was then abroad but he replied in letters dated 27 November and 1 December 1989. I have his assurance that the substance of my undertaking will be brought to the notice of the next meeting of the trustees, which will be held on 14 December.
The total amount of the subventions made by the State to the Chester Beatty Library over the past ten years amounts to £1,932,330.