Call for TCD gesture to Kells

Dear sir - I am writing to make a public call on Trinity College Dublin to be honourable and do the right thing. As you may be aware, Kells Heritage Centre has closed and due to financial constraints its future is uncertain. If Trinity College committed to providing Kells with a volume of the famous Book of Kells for the main tourist season next year it would ensure the reopening and survival of our centre. Since 1953, the Book of Kells has been bound in four volumes. Two volumes are on public view in Trinity College, one opened to display a major decorated page, and one to show two pages of script. Approximately 500,000 people pay Trinity College to see the book each year. The heritage of Kells is a financial asset, a cash cow for Trinity College and as such I am not naive enough to ask them to return the Book in its entirety. If this simple gesture was executed by Trinity College it would ensure that the history of Kells town lived on. Indeed, as only two of the four volumes of the book are on display at any one time it is difficult to see what ramifications there would be for Trinity College. Kells is world renowned and as such it deserves a centre wherein its past can be celebrated and shared. Hence, I ask prestigious Trinity College to be noble and just and to return a section of what essentially belongs to Kells to ensure the survival of tourism in our town. Yours, Cllr Sarah Reilly, Kells Town Council.