Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Fair play. I congratulate Ms Banotti on her new role in which I wish her luck. It is a great opportunity for her and for the sector. The issue of citizen engagement is an important one.

I notice it is one of the larger investment levels from the Department. There is engagement for the purpose as has been laid out, but there is also engagement for the purpose of Government engaging with the State. There was a worry at the start that the engagement could be used for the purposes of promoting Government activities rather than the development of the sector. I would like the witnesses to attend to that question. I am going to ask a number of questions.

One of the other concerns that existed in the early days of the Creative Ireland organisation is the fact that it was a new funding model. People asked what it was for and why we had another arts funding model when we have the Arts Council, which has a very clear arm’s length policy of distributing State funds throughout the country. Will the witnesses address the funding model of Creative Ireland and how we ensure it is perfectly safe with regard to the delivery of funds not being influenced by the State and in being accessible to real artists on the ground who need funds. We know that, since 2013, there has been a fall in the income of artists, even though the economy has improved and grown a little.

I do not think the word Gaeilge was mentioned in either presentation. Now that we are in the closing stages of Bliain na Gaeilge and given the Irish language is one of the most important cultural elements of the country by far and a unique element of culture, I wanted to see the role of the Irish language in Culture Ireland. From my perspective the Irish language is often seen as an afterthought or is often relegated to particular organisations rather than washed through the whole experience of every single State organisation. Will the witnesses to respond to the questions and we will take it from there?