Ms Lorraine Comer:

To support what Ms Donoghue said, there is fantastic work going on among the cultural institutions in terms of providing programmes not just for young people and children but for adults as well. Can I deal with a question that was asked earlier about the local authorities and local authority arts officers? Our recommendation is that they would be more represented on advisory boards in regard to arts and education and young people and that the remit of the local authority arts officers would also include the work a number of them are doing around the whole area of arts and education. That is really important.

No more than the Arts Council would say that it is the national organisation to support the development of the arts in Ireland, the local authority arts officers and the local authorities are supporting the development of the arts at a local level, and that is really important.

Conversations are happening within the Arts Council between what the local authority arts officers are doing and what the Arts Council is providing as support to them. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government also needs to endorse and formalise the role of the local authority arts officers in terms of that whole area of arts and education and young people.