Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 5 Feb 1998

Vol. 486 No. 5

Written Answers. - Acquisition of Nugent Manuscript.

Michael D. Higgins

Ceist:

22 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the efforts, if any, made to secure the manuscript poetry book of the Nugents for the Irish people when it came up for auction in December 1997. [2887/98]

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands (Miss de Valera)

The Nugent Manuscript — a sixteenth century book of poems, written on vellum — was deposited on loan with the National Library at the beginning of the 1930s. Following a request by the previous owners, and having regard to legal advice sought, the manuscript was returned to them in 1996. An offer which took account of three expert valuations received by the library was not accepted by the owners.

The export of the manuscript to England was authorised by a licence issued by the library, acting for the Minister, in 1997 under the Manuscripts and Pictures (Regulation of Export) Act, 1945. A microfilm copy of the book and a high quality photographic record of it is available in the library; thus a licence under the Act could not have been refused.

The Nugent Manuscript was sold by public auction at Sothebys in London on 11 December 1997 for a hammer price of £140,000 sterling. Allowing for the fees payable to the auctioneer and for currency conversion and other costs, a hammer price of £140,000 sterling would involve an outlay of up to Ir£180,000. Having taken account of all relevant factors including an assessment of the intrinsic value of the manuscript itself, and the possible impact on the market and on the library's ability to acquire other important materials in the years ahead, the library's agent at the auction was authorised by the library to incur a total expenditure of Ir£150,000 to acquire the manuscript. A substantial supplemental grant was earmarked by my Department to support the library's efforts to acquire the manuscript.

I regret that it was not possible on this occasion to acquire this manuscript for the National Library. The approach adopted was the correct one, having regard to all of the circumstances.