A new State-sponsored Website, Ask About Ireland, has been launched to promote the country's cultural heritage.
The site showcases some of Ireland's most famous historical figures, landmarks and buildings through free-to-use images, audio and video.
Themed on the 'Big House and Landed Estate Life in Ireland', the site also details the rise and fall of the landed estate in Ireland using authentic maps, photographs and prints taken from collections around the country.
Launching the site, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher said: "The Report and Website which we are launching here today is a first but major step in providing new modes of access to cultural heritage material in our public libraries, archives and museums."
A report on a new strategy for public libraries was also launched by the Minister. Mr Gallagher said that in order for efforts to build social and cultural cohesion at European level to succeed, the member states must maintain a distinct identity. "We cannot maintain that distinct identity if we do not know and value what that identity is," the Minister said.