Mr. Edward Hayden:

We are today getting a sense of the inculcation of the vibrancy of community arts. We see ourselves as very much at the centre of that. Our recommendations going forward are multipronged. The last tranche of funding we received was multi-beneficial. We were supporting professional people to engage as tutors and facilitators of drama courses and programmes. This in turn enhanced the standards of our members. If we think of any of our operations, standards are key. Aside from the world of drama we are a voluntary organisation with one assiduous administrator who is paid on a part-time basis. My background, aside from that, is in education. I work in South East Technological University as a lecturer. We are cognisant of the benefits of education and the advancements education can bring. The courses we offer are facilitated by professional people, who have the opportunity to get a revenue stream from that. The benefits to our members are also wide reaching.

We were talking about the local authority. There is an opportunity for funding streams to come from a parallel basis. We would obviously love the continuation of the last tranche funding, which enabled us to support professionals and enhance our members. We would also love to see greater autonomy in terms of local government funding. We run a successful summer school in the University of Limerick every year. A lot of the arts officers and county councils, though not all, provide a scholarship to allow people to go, for which they can apply on a competitive basis. I suppose in terms of equality and inclusion, that means people are not precluded from it due to financial limitations.

The Senator mentioned the new cycle of drama, theatre and film studies education. We see that, not necessarily as the primary learning source, but as something to act as a benefit for those who will be teaching it. There obviously will have to be robust indicative content compiled around that. We see the benefit of our courses in terms of the practical course and craft skills that our members are engaging in.