Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Arts Council and the officials from Department for attending. I appreciate what Ms McBride said about looking into who has and who has not received funding down through the years. That is hugely important, in fairness, because there seems to be a lot of money out there which might be made available to community and voluntary organisations. In my constituency, Cork South-West, I receive a lot of criticism that organisations do not get enough funding for the arts whether through the council or the Department. Perhaps they do and they are not acknowledging it. That might be something the witnesses could discuss. How is it filtering down to the rural community and voluntary organisations? Are they getting the funding or are they misleading me?

Slightly differently to the Chair, I note the following. It is obvious that we must have regulation, but we have to be careful too in that a lot of these voluntary organisations are stretched to the limit. They are overly regulated and trying to comply with the rules of companies limited by guarantee, constitutions and Garda clearance, which one has to get to sit at a meeting. One has to get another Garda clearance to drive the bus and a further one to do meals on wheels. Where are we going to stop? In the name of God, these are voluntary organisations and people are stretched to the limit. I am in one voluntary organisation in Goleen where we pay €7,000 between insurance and accounts and up to €8,000 and €9,000 to run a festival. There is little or no help out there. Where does the money come from to pay €3,000 to accountants and €4,000 to an insurer before the year even starts? It is coming from the community. I would appreciate it if the witnesses directed me as to how these funds are filtering down to rural community voluntary organisations as well as those in urban areas. They are working hard and finding it very difficult. If they continue to be squeezed, a lot of people will walk away from the organisations with which they are involved.