Mr. Theo Dorgan:

There is always a tendency, and it has been reinforced at State level, to take a middlebrow attitude to the arts. The Arts Council would not have given a bursary to Van Morrison or Bob Dylan. That is an absurd state of affairs. If the Minister, following from this report, were to suggest very gently but with a big stick half hidden behind her back, that it would be a very good idea for the Arts Council to start supporting popular music, this would achieve two things: it would signal to people that the music which people are most interested in is being invested in and supported at State level, and it would help to open up the minds of professional arts practitioners to the idea that we are a broad church. Everything we do in pursuit of meaning is part of culture, and that is the message we need to send out. People want meaning in their lives and where do they go for it? They go to art forms, not to the arts - not to that generalisation.

They go to music, theatre, film, books and the art of conversation. This is what we want.

I wish to make a last reference to the Democratic Programme. It refers to securing the permanence of Government in the willing adhesion of the people. It has been my experience, at 65 years of age, that the level of trust in Government is dwindling each year.