Mr. Michael Parsons:

Absolutely. First, of course the Heritage Council, like an awful lot of bodies in this country, suffered during the recession and, in our case, dramatically. Funnily, I did not start by talking about money and I did not mention money in either of the submissions because I feel, even before money, we are talking about harnessing people. That is what I believe. Often the money that the Heritage Council uses is seed money. Often it is in small amounts, but it works. Often the money is going out in grants to different communities that have an idea or to different individuals and that is very important. Of course we are looking for more money. I could not go back to Kilkenny if I did not say that we would welcome more money. However, we would welcome more money tied, if one likes, with when our strategic plan comes back. Obviously we want money for the European Year of Cultural Heritage, which would be impossible to run without it. Therefore, we expect money separately for that. However, we would only be looking for more money that is tied to actual proposals we have for initiatives we believe have worth and meaning and contribute.

The Senator mentioned built heritage and natural heritage. There is also cultural heritage. "Heritage" is the greatest word. I remember, when I was first appointed to the Heritage Council, digging out an old dictionary and wondering what we are looking at here at all. I had a 1970-something dictionary, as an old school master would have. I looked this thing up and discovered it had no relationship whatever to what I thought it was about, so I hunted further. The further I hunt, the more I find it is an expanding term. In essence, however, it is what we are handed down. It is the value handed down to us from previous generations that we want to conserve and keep for the future, and of course that involves money.