Vol. 520 No. 2
53 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the amount of funds available to the National Gallery and other public galleries here to purchase paintings and sculptures; her views on whether these moneys are adequate in the context of today's prices; and the proposals she has in this regard. [15054/00]
In answering this question it must be noted that the only galleries under the aegis of my Department are the National Gallery of Ireland and the Irish Museum of Modern Art and that the acquisitions policy of both institutions is strictly a matter for themselves.
I am glad to inform the Deputy that the funding for acquisition and conservation for the National Gallery is £750,000 for the current year. The amount in respect of acquisitions by the Irish Museum of Modern Art is £250,000 for the current year. These figures represent increases in the resources for acquisition of 285% for the National Gallery and 52% for the Irish Museum of Modern Art, respectively since 1997.
Both institutions can avail of the tax relief provisions for donations of artworks under section 1003 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, the limit on which this year was increased from £0.75 million to £3.0 million in the Finance Act.
On the issue of whether I consider the resources are adequate I would draw the attention of the Deputy to my reply to Deputy Ryan's Question No. 14 on 29 April 1999 in which I set out the overall resourcing position in relation to the National Gallery. As regards the Irish Museum of Modern Art that institution was enabled last year to avail of the tax relief provision under the Taxes Consolidation Act to acquire an important collection of modern art paintings donated by the Bank of Ireland.
