An extra €2 million has been secured to fund the national cultural institutions including the National Museum of Ireland and the National Library of Ireland (NLI).
The money was announced by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys TD following warnings by both institutions that they may have to shut down services or charge admissions fees if their budget allocation was not increased. The free Genealogy Service at the NLI was said to be one of the areas that could face cuts.
In response to the announcement by the Minister, Catherine Fahy, Acting Director of the NLI, said: “We are very pleased and relieved that the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has indicated that there will be additional funding available for the national cultural institutions, including the National Library of Ireland, in the coming weeks.
“We are hopeful that this funding will enable us to keep our doors open across all the services we currently provide. We also hope it will enable us to play our full part in the 1916 commemorations and the Decade of Commemorations overall.
“We have worked closely with the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in recent months to look at how best to resolve the funding challenges we currently face. This announcement of additional funding is the outcome of our work, and is a very positive result. We look forward to receiving more detail about the additional funding in the coming weeks.”