There is an onus on each generation to preserve and protect the national cultural treasures in its care, to keep them secure for future generations. That responsibility covers a wide range: the archaeological artefacts housed in our museums, works of fine art, archival records, as well as architectural heritage. They are vital to our awareness and understanding of the past.
For the most part, our national cultural institutions perform that role of custodianship and have done so superbly. However, in recent years those institutions have faced major challenges in fulfilling their task, with concerns repeatedly expressed about their abilities to adequately protect their collections.
The latest sounding of alarm bells comes in a letter from the outgoing board of the National Library to Minister for Arts and Heritage Heather Humphreys, revealing concerns about the library's " inability to fulfil its statutory function of protecting and preserving the nation's documentary heritage". In particular, the board was concerned about the library's storage space, with specific mention of fire safety.
This is not the first time the matter has been raised. The safekeeping and security of national collections came up in the Dáil in June when TD Catherine Murphy said she was "quite shocked at the lack of protection against fire and flood in the National Library" and asked had we not learned from the 1922 fire in the Dublin Public Record Office that "wiped out 700 years of history".
The recent years of funding cuts to the national cultural institutions have undoubtedly contributed to this situation. With the Government confronted by undeniably difficult choices from a public spending perspective, our cultural heritage has lost out consistently. The Minister has now promised “a positive statement” on investment in the library. The other institutions too deserve similar investment and the sooner the better, before it is too late for the nation’s “valuable and irreplaceable national assets”, as they were described in the Dáil.