Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reason is that the arts festival is based in the city. The city council only has responsibility for the city and Galway city is small. It stretches from Knocknacarra, from the wood in Barna over to Doughiska, whereas Galway County Council has to stretch from Ballinasloe to Bofin and Dunmore to Gort. The city is now part of its functional area, whether that is good, bad or indifferent. Even though Galway city, relative to other cities, is not particularly wealthy, specifically with regard to the city council, it is a hell of a lot richer than Galway County Council for a reason that is now being addressed at central government level. Galway County Council is probably one of the worst-funded local authorities in the country even though it is a massive geographic area. I would not like anybody to think that the people in Galway County Council, whether elected members or staff, are philistines, but one will find that they do not have resources and they have a huge area in which to try to keep the arts going. There is the Inishbofin Arts Festival, the Aran Islands and so on, and there is the huge county. It is a very historic county, with such places as Portumna Castle. That is the challenge. In the end, if the money is not going in, it cannot come out, and that is a challenge for local authorities. It seems that we are still critically short of venues. Galway is very short of good venues. I have heard criticism of the Pálás Cinema in Galway.