Legislation to integrate State galleries must not be rushed, says Cullen

SEANAD REPORT:MINISTER FOR Arts Martin Cullen said he agreed with Paschal Donohoe (FG) that there must be no rush to legislate for the integration of elements of the National Gallery, the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Crawford gallery.

These institutions were a core part of our tourism product, said the Minister. “It is important therefore that the legislation being prepared is carefully considered. It is my intention that the best structures for our national cultural institutions will be put in place.”

Mr Donohoe urged that if the Minister proceeded with the planned integration, he should ensure that the autonomy and heritage of the individual institutions were recognised and protected.

“The three galleries differ in many respects. While I would fully support measures to reduce administration and other costs, I ask the Minister to seek to strike a balance and to recognise that each of the three institutions has a distinct heritage.”

Speaking in a debate on the recent OECD and IMF reports, Shane Ross (Ind) said the message from the IMF was that the aspirations of the Government were fairly sound, but, perhaps, they would not be able to do what they wanted to do.

He believed there was a need to inject a sense of panic in order to generate a realisation among the population of the crisis we were in.

While the outlook remained really bad, the Minister for Finance was getting on top of his brief and he seemed to have made a positive impression on overseas investors when promoting the Government bonds issues.

The Minister would be able to get what was likely to be an extremely unpleasant budget through in December if he held his nerve, did not worry about the reaction of his backbenchers and relied on the IMF report more than any domestic advice.

Mr Ross said RTÉ should not give air time to economists who spoofed about the economy in the past. He had heard a well-known economist from a bank saying on national radio that things were getting better. He might be correct, but he had no credibility because of those who were paying him to say that.

Eugene Regan (FG) said it was important that the Bord Snip Nua report be published. Given the state of our public finances, it would be extraordinary if this report was going to be hidden for a number of months while parliamentarians were on holiday.

David Norris (Ind) said the Government would be mad to put the report into the public domain at an early stage. It was intended to inform Government decisions.

Minister of State for Enterprise Trade and Employment Dara Calleary said the Minister for Finance had told the Dáil that the National Treasury Management Agency had engaged in standard procedures in relation to the engagement of legal advisers and that the Minister had had no involvement in this matter.