Mr. Liam Hannaway:

The Senator asked about the importance of the grant. When the initial approach was made to the Minister, the idea was that it would come straight from the Department because the Arts Council is very much targeted at the professional as opposed to the amateur theatre. That is where it gets lost, and that is why we feel it is important. My second point is about cost. A lot of drama festival committees, including the Íontas drama festival and Townhall Cavan, utilise artistic spaces across local authority areas. I suppose we are slightly different because we are an all-Ireland body. There is the situation in the North and the situation in the South. Drama groups coming North-South on a cross-Border basis makes it slightly different. Money coming straight from the Department might be easier to deal with.