I propose to take Questions Nos. 118 and 132 together.
The Deputy will appreciate that the State's art collections to which he refers are held mainly by the national cultural institutions. The management of these exhibitions and exhibition material is an operational matter for which the individual institutions have responsibility and this is reflected, in particular, in the legislative basis under which the national cultural institutions operate. These institutions include the National Museum, the National Gallery, the National Library IMMA, the Chester Beatty Library, and the Crawford Art Gallery. Arrangements are made from time to time for the loan of artefacts and works in the national collections to regional museums and galleries, provided conditions as to security, accreditation and so forth are met.
The Arts Council also has a collection consisting of some 1,000 works of contemporary Irish art. The collection represents emerging, as well as more established, artists. Over 80% of the collection is on loan to public institutions around the country. The Council operates a Loan Scheme enabling organisations such as schools, hospitals, local authorities, public galleries and other public institutions to borrow works of art from its collection for periods of up to two years, so as to ensure that the maximum number of people have access to this extensive collection of contemporary Irish art. Details of how to apply are available on the Council's website (http://virtualgallery.artscouncil.ie/loan.html), as is a virtual tour of the collection.
My Department is committed to providing annual funding to certain other cultural institutions which hold collections of moveable cultural heritage of national importance, or collections that are unique in the country and relate to matters of national interest, or that relate to international culture. These institutions and their collections are accessible to the public. Such institutions include the Hunt Museum, Archbishop Marsh's Library and the Foynes Flying Boat Museum.
The Deputy may be aware that the AIB recently has entered into a partnership with the State in respect of its art collection. Crawford Art Gallery is to house this gift of 39 key pieces from the AIB as an addition to the permanent collection on view there. The AIB will also be making available a further 991 works for exhibition by publicly funded galleries through the aegis of the Crawford Art Gallery. The collection was exhibited in the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork for several weeks and has now moved to Limerick. It is proposed that a number of works of art from this collection will continue to be exhibited in a number of publicly funded galleries through the aegis of the Crawford Art Gallery. In addition, the Great Southern art collection was secured by the State some years ago and is also held in the Crawford Gallery. Works from this collection have been exhibited in many other galleries and indeed in my own Department's office in Killarney.
Finally, some of the most ambitious capital projects funded under my Department's ACCESS scheme are art galleries, such as the Carlow Contemporary Art Gallery, the Niland in Sligo and the Limerick City Art Gallery. These galleries draw regularly on the national collection for exhibitions.