It should hardly be necessary to have a debate calling for adequate funding for a national library. It's regrettable that we got to this point, but like others I should like to thank the Minister for his role in ensuring that the funding package announced today has actually been brought forth. The National Library of Wales has played an important part in my life. In fact, I spent several years buried in its vaults when I was a research student at Aberystwyth, on more than one occasion actually being locked in for the night because I'd been forgotten about. So, I have many fond memories of those years.

It is true, as David Melding said, that a library is more than just a collection of books. He said it was a repository of the soul of nation. Well, I think it is, and it's the collective repository of a nation's thoughts. It's inconceivable that it could ever be allowed to wither and die or to be damaged by neglect. We have had years of neglect, despite what Mick Antoniw said. It may not have been a conscious decision to want to vandalise the library, but it is an inconvenient fact that, over many, many years, the library has been deprived of adequate funding, and that's now been partly addressed. I think it's as well for us to recognise both of those points.

The national library is the cornerstone of Wales's cultural and material heritage, as is illustrated by the documents that it contains, which have been recognised by UNESCO as being of international importance, and among the most important documentary treasures in the world. Other speakers have mentioned some of the contents of the collection, which is 6 million books as well as, nowadays—let's be a bit more modern—7 million ft of film, 250,000 hours of video, and 150,000 hours of audio.

I think we should remember a point that has perhaps not been emphasised as much as it could have in the course of this debate, although some speakers have mentioned it, and that is the importance of the national library as a champion of the Welsh language, in fact, the centrepiece of the defence, preservation and promotion of the Welsh language. The library was founded just over 100 years ago, and the principal founding collection was that of Sir John Williams, a collection of 23,000-odd books, and that collection contained 12 of the first 22 books published in the Welsh language, including Yny lhyvyr hwnn, which was the first book known to be published in Welsh, and indeed that is the only copy extant. That is inside the collection.

There is also a substantial Celtic language collection from all the six languages of the Celtic languages group—a very substantial collection of Irish literature and also Breton literature. All, or virtually all, known books published in the Cornish and Manx languages are in the national library. So far as I know, that is the best collection in the world of these books. It's inconceivable that we could damage an institution that is so important, I would say, to the cultural history of the world.

We look at the facts: the revenue grant in aid for 2020-21 was just short of £10 million, £9.89 million. Well, 15 years ago, in 2006-07, the figure was £9.57 million. We've had substantial inflation in the meantime, so the consequence is, although there has never been a cut in the funding for the library, in effect there's been a cut, which has been administered by the process of inflation. Its useable income has therefore declined by 40 per cent in those years.