Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegates for attending. Some of them are in the throes of their work, with events taking place in a few weeks; therefore, we appreciate their attendance.

This is the culture and heritage committee, but I do not know why we do not call it the arts and culture committee or why we wiped the word "arts" from both the name of the committee and the Department. It is extremely important that those on the committee know about the brilliance of the work happening throughout the country. We sometimes live in a cocoon here and do not know what is happening. We are also not vocal enough about it. We are vocal about footpaths and 1,000 other things, rightly so, but we are not vocal enough about the arts and the massive part they play, from both a Dionysian and civic point of view. We are grateful the delegates are here because we know the effort that was made to come here. I also thank them for being such a flagship for the island because sometimes - I say this being part of the political system - politics does not come up to that standard of expression of who and what we are.

I have a few general questions about which the delegates might think before answering after my colleagues have contributed.

Are there synergies between the delegates? Do they co-operate with the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and find that some of the artists go on to attend the Galway and Kilkenny arts festivals? Do they think that they, as leaders in the arts and especially in running a festival, communicate well enough with us? Do they think they could lead a little better?

Are they being clever enough in that regard? By "clever" I mean artistic and creative enough or are they simply letting this happen because they are very busy? Do they believe they could find a better route to us as Oireachtas Members?

Coming to the Galway International Arts Festival, can the witnesses tell me how many people they employ permanently, non-permanently and on a voluntary basis? Can they discuss the cost of the festival and the gift of the Government or the Arts Council or whether there is such a gift?

This might be an awful thing to say but sometimes I believe the static theatre is a little dead and that one will find more of the living theatre at festivals where the original work or touring work is shown. We can get a lot of repetition. Could the witnesses discuss that?

The witnesses are wonderful and I think of them as a type of new Edinburgh. If they had a need, what would it be? Could they name an ambitious project they might have in the back of their heads? They spoke about projects being expensive and risky. Have they an ambitious project in mind?

Where does Creative Ireland come into the witnesses' world because it is certainly coming into ours? We have a huge number of books, pillars and all kinds of things on it. Could the witnesses speak to that and whether they are involved in the capital programme? Have they asked about that? How do they see it? Have they been contacted by Creative Ireland? Have the witnesses contacted Creative Ireland and, if so, has it come back to them? Does it see itself as part of the witnesses' world?

I ask the witnesses from Listowel Writers' Week to tell me specifically about their funding. The witnesses might speak to the general questions as they see fit. Will I ask the panel to answer those questions or does the Chairman want to call other members?