Mr. Feargal Cavanagh:

We need to have ring-fenced funding. The Arts Council say clearly that it is not its remit to fund local community arts. That is the bailiwick of councils through arts officers. It is a case of how we ring-fence it rather than, in effect, going with a begging bowl and asking how much they can give us this year and to apply under the different schemes an arts officer can come up with. It is so haphazard. For example, there is no scheme whereby Mr. Foley, as national secretary, can say to all the societies that there is a scheme and groups could apply to their council and that funding would be available.