Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank every speaker for his or her contribution. The meeting has been very informative. I will not promise a structured narrative from the notes I have taken, but I have a few questions, the first of which Mr. Ludlow might address.

Recommendation No. 25 in the CEDRA report concerns the creative industries. To take up where Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell left off, the first paragraph calls for an industry in which creative artists can live, work and excel to earn a living wage in this society and the rural economy. An integrated approach is mentioned in terms of the need for a coherent voice, particularly on collaboration, not only within the arts and creative industries but also on policy. The Departments of Health, Social Protection, Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaelteacht Affairs and Education and Skills are all tied with the creative industries. I would be hugely supportive of an integrated approach for the creative industries and to policy. Is there greater scope for the local enterprise offices to support the creative SME sector?

With regard to the Amsterdam Declaration and the notion of cluster concepts, there was reference to 40 visual artists, 85 crafts people, 91 people involved in film enterprised and 105 in creative enterprises in County Meath. It strikes me that, as a starting point, the national cultural institutions which are mostly near here could be moved and regionalised as has happened in the United Kingdom in the case of the Tate Britain, the Tate St. Ives, the Tate Liverpool and the Tate Modern. Our national cultural institutions could be made structurally and digitally accessible - it is a great scandal that they are not - and regionalised as part of a cluster concept and tied with heritage sites, for example, the site at Newgrange. They could also be tied with work spaces for artists because there is a huge squeeze in urban areas to support artists to live in rural communities alongside national cultural and heritage institutions. The national cultural institutions are among the top ten most visited attractions by tourists.

These groups spend far more than other tourists. I would be interested in hearing the delegates' take on it. What is the effect on the indigenous creative industry when young people - recession or no - are attracted to London because the creative industry here cannot support them?