It was appalling that a former board member of the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) had been subjected to "character assassination" in Sunday newspapers, Dr Maurice Manning, Fine Gael leader in the House, said.
During the debate on the Heritage Fund Bill, he noted that Section 12 covered the prohibition of unauthorised disclosure of information. It stated that a person should not disclose confidential information obtained while performing duties as a member of the Council of National Cultural Institutions during meetings held to discuss the Heritage Fund.
Dr Manning said he presumed the same proviso applied to the IMMA. He was sure it was something that had been more honoured in the breach than in the observance over the past number of weeks.
Referring to the resignation from the museum board of Ms Marie Donnelly, the chairwoman, Dr Manning said he had been shocked at the "character assassination" of this woman". He said he realised the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, had no involvement whatever in this. "I am just looking at the question of a person who comes in to do public service. Her policies may have been right or may have been wrong. Personally, I think her objectives were correct in trying to shake up the museum in the first place."
Introducing the Bill, Minister de Valera said it met the Government's commitment to establish a Heritage Fund in connection with the Action Programme for the Millennium. The principal aim of the fund, which would have an overall limit of £10 m over a five-year period, was to build up financial resources which would be used by the principal State collecting cultural institutions to acquire significant items for the national collections that were outstanding examples of their type and pre-eminent in their class.