Sir, – The National Museum of Ireland is responsible for curating, conserving, exhibiting and collecting our material past; the costs associated with this can only ever grow due to an expanding collection.
This is dictated by law as the National Museum is the repository for all archaeological finds in the country and must accept these no matter what financial pressure it is under.
Madrid’s Prado charges a €14 entrance fee, the Louvre €14 and the Uffizi €9.59. The Berlin Historical Museum charges €8, with free entry on Thursday evenings – so locals can easily visit for free. Even the National Museum of Sweden charges nearly €11 to visit. Typically children, pensioners and the unwaged are granted a concession.
The notable exception to this is the British Museum, which has free entry but generates a healthy income from high entrance fees to fantastic temporary exhibitions and serves a comparatively massive population base.
Our free entry policy is an anomaly and a postcolonial anachronism that ill-serves our heritage. It is irresponsible to forego the valuable income stream of entrance fees that would create employment, fund urgently required conservation projects, facilitate a lively programme of temporary exhibitions and educational services, and contribute to a “war chest” ensuring the National Museum can bid on important pieces that come up for sale and save them for the people of Ireland. The “greasy till” argument serves no cause. – Yours, etc,
ERICA DEVINE,
Sandycove, Co Dublin.
Sir, – In the new junior cycle programme, the Government has presided over the theft from the nation’s children of their entitlement to know the history and geography of the land they inhabit. It now looks like the Government will preside over another theft in the form of an additional charge for people to see their historical and geographical heritage in the National Museum of Ireland. – Yours, etc,
PETER LYDON,
Clondalkin,
Dublin 22.