Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We had that seat long before the Minister's elevation but he is a very welcome addition and is very good to us. I hear two things from people involved in the arts in Kerry vis-à-vis the Arts Councils. The Arts Council does not seem to be aware of the disadvantages peripheral areas, such as north Kerry, face in trying to maintain a very good arts programme. I mention the costs incurred by writers week, bringing people from around the country to Kerry, putting them up over night and paying their travel expenses and their fees. Nobody comes cheap anymore. Can the Arts Council build in a kind of balance between the grants given to the more urbanised and highly populated centres and the peripheral regions where there is a reduced business base and local sponsorship is a lot more difficult to come by than it was previously?

Volunteer committees are being totally weighed down by bureaucracy, by form filling and by reports and surveys to be carried out. A great amount of very valuable time of paid staff is going into this. Will it ever stop? Some people believe it is just an exercise in finding work for arts consultancies. Much of the help they give is unnecessary and gratuitous and most of the committees about which I speak believe they have done enough of that.