Priceless heritage that our national museum
- lets rot
By - Marie Nolan.

Ireland's priceless heritage of four million artefacts could be lost forever due to damage and decay.

As well, many items from the National Museum's collection may have been stolen, as they are not properly registered in State archives.

Serious concerns have been raised about the humidity and temperature controls in storage facilities at the National Museum of Ireland.

Incredibly, some artefacts are even being kept outside at one of the sites - open to rain, ice and gales.

The national scandal was revealed in a special report by the State's spending watchdog.

In his damning conclusions, the report by Comptroller and Auditor General John Purcell points to sub-standard storage and criticises the operation of the National Museum, which manages the national collection and runs four public museums, three in Dublin and one in Mayo.

Purcell's report calls for wholesale reform in how the National Museum of Ireland keeps it's stock of four million items, which includes the Ardagh Chalice and the Tara Brooch.

The artefacts date back to the 18th. And 19th. centuries - but it was not clear whether all of the items that officials believe they have are actually still in the national collection.

A lack of resources is blamed, but the seriousness of the damage that may have already been caused could result in some staff being forced to resign.

In a reference to the eight storage locations, the Comptroller and Auditor General states: "Problems encountered were overcrowding, dirt, dampness and leaks".

"There was a general lack of environmental controls throughout", he said.

The report also found that the National Museum probably does not know what it actually has in its collections.

Specifically, the report states that of the estimated 3.8 million objects, only 911,000 lend themselves to detailed recording - and, of those, only 30pc are electronically registered.

As a result, the National Museum is not in a position to accurately establish what it has in its possession, it said.

The National Museum's director, Dr. Pat Wallace, citing lack of resources as the cause of the situation, said they had sought for years to have the adequate staff - and vowed that comprehensive plans relating to inventories, collections and procedures were under way, with a new strategy to be unveiled at the April board meeting.

Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism Séamus Brennan accepted that large-scale investment was needed.

A statement said: "Funding of over €150m will be targeted at specific modernisation, expansion and stage initiatives, with more than €70m earmarked for the National Museum site at Collins Barracks". Digital recording of the National Collection is also to be introduced.

© Mail on Sunday, 16th. March 2008.

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