Mr. Conor Falvey:

Insurance is an issue for us across the sector with regard to different activities. It is presenting as different issues. As members are aware, the Government has produced an initiative on this. We have raised the matter with the Department of Finance in terms of the impact it is having. There is a whole-of-government response. Regarding impediments to any sector-specific or State-driven response, it needs to be a comprehensive package that tackles the insurance industry generally. We are aware of it. It is presenting in different sectors for us.

Regarding the question about Dublin Bus, these are matters for that company. I happened to hear a spokesperson for Dublin Bus on the radio when it announced this recently saying that the ambition potentially is to expand the number of services. From our perspective, this is certainly very welcome. That might, in part, flow from the experience of the operation of the new service as it is being introduced.

Regarding the mapping exercise and when it might happen, we are really looking at quarter 1. I would say to any members who might raise this issue that the Minister very much shares their ambition regarding timelines and is looking for the measures that have been set out to be implemented as promptly as possible. I hope we will be able in some locations to build on previous work done in this area. I am informed that there has been but we just need to make sure this is up to date. We may not be starting from scratch with regard to that exercise. We are meeting Dublin City Council next week. We have all read material in the newspapers about things such as District 8, the Bernard Shaw or other venues closing. Venues come and go for different reasons. It is just a case of arriving at an evidence base in order that there is something underpinning something more fundamental here and that there is a broader and more generally based impediment to opportunities for people to either do creative work at night or to experience and participate in it than has been the case previously. It is about building that evidence base to see what the appropriate policy responses to those pressures are. We are working with Dublin City Council on the precise structure to do that most effectively.

Regarding Waterford and the other locations, we may not be finished with this exercise. The issues in other locations can be quite different. Dublin is where the issue appears to be presenting most acutely in the context of some of the issues we have discussed. To some extent, the issues in rural Ireland are a bit different.

I do not know whether Senator Warfield will be rejoining us but I am from Tralee, live in the south west and am acutely aware of the circumstances in rural Ireland, particularly in the south west. I had heard that the Hillgrove was to re-open temporarily next week in the context of "Other Voices". There are issues regarding changing tastes. All manner of issues impact on the way people, including young people, socialise that are possibly different today but, again, it is about building that evidence base. If the venue is saying that these are insurance issues, these are matters we need to take into account.

Regarding the appetite in other Departments, we have engaged with other Departments, met them over the summer and written to them regarding our intentions in this regard. We will write to them again. It is not our intention to duplicate the role of any other Department. The point of the exercise is to provide the structures so that these issues can be raised, identified, referred and progressed with regard to responding to the issues. People have been discussing this issue in the media and there have been very effective campaigns such as Give Us The Night, so we need to be able to respond to this at an official level. That is what the Government wants to do so we need to provide a structure through which these issues can be raised formally, referred to the appropriate level for resolution and if they cannot be resolved at local level through the participation of the local transport providers or the local authority and if a legislative or a policy response is required, there is a structure through which that can be referred to the appropriate body or agency. That is a key element of what we are trying to achieve regarding the exercise that is under way.

The role of Creative Ireland was mentioned. It is something we have not considered at this stage. The Creative Ireland programme has a defined body of work set out. The focus is very much on the creative youth plan strand, with which members will be very familiar, and the creative communities strand through the local authorities. It has been very involved in terms of the audiovisual stream, the capital plan in the Department and our international presence and is doing a significant piece of work around supports for creative industries in the context of future jobs so that is where the focus is. That is not to say that the Department does not have other means through which to engage with colleagues across the system and other Departments to identify issues and assess what those responses might be. Having said that, it is not our job to step in and assume the role of the Department of Justice and Equality or the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government but rather to say that we are interested from a cultural perspective in the impact of Departments' policies on creative spaces and are raising these issues in that context and will see what the Government response will be with regard to those matters.

The issues raised at the previous meetings were broadly aligned with the issues raised with the Minister at the symposium in April. Consequently, many of the same issues such as venues, licensing, transport, policing and costs generally came up. I will not say that nothing was new. It is useful to have those conversations and to hear those views being verified and echoed but the issues raised were broadly similar to those raised with the Department through the symposium.

Next year will be a very busy year in Galway, although that is not say it would not be an appropriate place. By their nature, pilots involve picking a small sample. We picked Dublin on the basis that it is most acute. I do not know whether, if Deputy Ó Laoghaire was in the Chair today, he would have a different view about Cork city. Everybody will have an opinion but we will run the pilots. If we think there are other issues that are not being captured, we can look to expand and see what other issues emerge or come back to us from different sources. By their nature, however, pilots tend to be limited.

We spoke about the challenges in urban and rural areas. Some of the narrative in the media appears to be around development pressures, particularly in Dublin, and their impact on those opportunities and venues. It is different in rural areas. I know some very established artists based in Kerry, possibly because those development pressures are not there, and they are able to find venues more easily. The difficulty may involve things like transport and the density of population to support demand for particular types of arts pursuits. What is the optimal level of support? The Deputy is quite right in that the issues will be different. We should look at the issues that come out of the pilots in the cities to see whether they are applicable or whether we are looking at something quite different. Pilots are limited and restricted. We will see in due course whether we think there is a need to sample more widely.