Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Deenihan, and Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, on their work during the Irish EU Presidency. One of the things that came very much to the fore was the promotion of the arts, whether it was Irish music, song or dance. We often show the best features of Irish culture when we have visitors, whether they are visitors from Europe or visitors such as the Queen, President Obama or the Kennedy family, who were with us recently. There were some excellent performances and I would suggest the music, song and dance were probably better than some of the speeches.

I want to raise with the Minister the issue of the Solas cinema project in Galway, which is promoted by Ms Leila Doolin. There was great co-operation with the city council in Galway and though the attempt to get funding together was difficult, I understand the project is going ahead.

Representatives of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann appeared previously at the committee, among other Irish music contributors. They made the point that there was an issue with funding. I raised the point that much of the funding has been reduced, whether that is local authority or VEC funding. The arts bodies in the local authorities often assume that Comhaltas is getting money from the State but it is unfair to Comhaltas to expect it to continue with the kind of funding it is getting. Given that every county has a fleadh, every province has a provincial fleadh and there is an all-Ireland fleadh, and given the great culture brought to places like Cavan and Derry in recent times, it is important that this funding to Comhaltas would continue. I would be interested to know why there is a difference in funding for 2012 and 2013. We must bear in mind there have been reductions at local authority level and even in the small discretionary grants made by VECs and others bodies.