Mr. Michael Ludlow:

There is a lot in what the Senator says. From a Leader programme perspective, we consider our territory, for example, the development of County Meath. We have been supporting the sectors I have mentioned for some time and some are more amenable than others to collective activity. Artisan food producers, for example, would find common cause with each other more than artists might. Artists work in their own space and it is more difficult to collectivise their activities. There is one thing that can be done which we almost managed to do in the last programme and which I think we will do in this programme. Young artists coming out of college face a major challenge in equipping themselves to follow their careers. We could develop a collective facility with the heavy hardware needed, similar to the hubs created for the food sector. However, the Leader programme does not have the financial capacity to establish it because it would be a major investment. The local authority and the local enterprise office, LEO, are considering the establishment of a food hub between Navan and Kells which would be the shell of the facility, but the equipping of each work space within that structure would be to be undertaken. That is where the Leader programme would step in. We align with somebody who wants to occupy a production space and aid the specialised fit-out, while our colleagues in Enterprise Ireland or the LEOs invest in a different way. If we were to bring all of the creative people together in a collective, there would be the possibility of developing a plan they would be interested in following. We cannot impose anything. We start the conversation and the work towards the development of what they would like to see in place. The Leader programme will not put everything they wish for on the ground. I would like, as part of the Leader programme, to be able to allocate some Leader programme staff time to sourcing funding for a Leader programme-led project. That funding might come from another source or it might require time for consultation with Enterprise Ireland or other agencies in Ireland. That is not provided for, but there is tremendous potential. We know how to bring people together and operate the collective for the benefit of the individual. That is the route we see, but additional funding is necessary to address the need, but from where will it come? That is not a question lying out in the fog; it is one we will address.