Problems of museum storage
- flagged in 2006
By - Tim O'Brien.
PROBLEMS ABOUT the storage and management of archival
material at the National Museum of Ireland were known
before a recent critical report by the Comptroller and
Auditor General.
In his report the comptroller, John Purcell, said there
was an urgent need to improve the safeguarding of the
collections and to devise policies covering acquisitions
and disposals.
However, according to the Institute of Archaeologists in
Ireland, difficult conditions at the museum had been well
flagged since 2006 at least.
In a public statement yesterday, the institute said the
need to provide improved staffing levels and facilities
had been noted "in many reports and studies", including
Archaeology 2020 (UCD/Heritage Council 2006); Archaeology
in Ireland: A Vision for the Future (RIA 2007) and
Rethinking Irish Archaeology: Old Ground, New Ideas (IAI
2008).
Under the National Monuments Act the national museum is
the designated repository for all archaeological objects
and artifacts, and the museum has a supervisory role in
the licensing and management of archaeological
excavations. These responsibilities are managed by the
Irish antiquities division of the National Museum of
Ireland.
However, the institute said in its statement yesterday
that while the amount of artefacts had grown dramatically
due to the boom in the construction industry - including
motorway building - staffing levels in the antiquities
division remained static during the period 1980 to
2006.
© The Irish Times, 20th. March 2008.
Related Articles:
Museum's 4m priceless artifacts face serious
threat.
Priceless heritage that our national museum lets
rot.
Museum has no inventory of treasures.
