Mr. Eugene Downes:

It is true. Hardly a week would go by that we would not be on the phone back and forward with John Crumlish, Paul Fahy or other colleagues, constantly comparing practical challenges, audience trends and artistic opportunities. This is absolutely critical when one is making constant judgment calls, be they about marketing strategy, an artistic issue or a practical funding issue. The informal lines of communication within the sector are really alive and vital.

Senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell asked about communications with the political sphere. I will take this query in the context of advocacy and lobbying. This leads into the core public policy issue of funding needs and, for example, Creative Ireland and education. Many arts organisations are active in different ways of broader advocacy and lobbying. At the Kilkenny Arts Festival, for example, we have a lot of direct contact locally with our elected members and with the key officials in Kilkenny County Council and with local Deputies and Senators. There are lots of direct contacts within the county. In our national lobbying and advocacy and in our engagement with the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Government, we generally channel that effort through our participation in the National Campaign for the Arts. I am on the steering group for the National Campaign for the Arts and a significant amount of our time and energy is involved in crafting a position on behalf of the sector and then seeking to engage with key decision makers in the political sphere, be they elected Members, Ministers or key officials on that key conversation.

This leads into the issue of funding and a number of members have asked what those needs and issues. Over the past year we have been heavily engaged on the question of a political commitment from the Government and the Taoiseach to double arts funding.