Mr. Conor Falvey:

To come back to the rural question, the way people consume culture is different now. The festival format which is popular now is good for rural Ireland. Festivals like Other Voices draw people in, albeit for short bursts and people seem to have a taste for that now. One can run such festivals anywhere. There are many locations in rural Ireland where opera, contemporary music and traditional music festivals are held. It is a format that people like and to which they have become accustomed.

In terms of spaces being used for other purposes, one of the cultural highlights for me this year was when the very distinguished arts practitioner Ms Kim Gordon from a punk band that I liked when I was young, Sonic Youth, performed at IMMA on a summer's evening. It was a really nice event and I now that IMMA has ambitions to run more such events in that space. In terms of the cultural institutions, their primary objective is to protect, preserve and present national collections so anything they would do in that space would have to be consistent with that objective. A very substantial programme of capital investment is underway in the cultural institutions which will enhance the spaces. We will explore with them all options, while also considering the resource implications but there is already evidence of the cultural institutions themselves looking at opportunities to widen their reach. Culture Night, when people visit outside of the normal times, has inspired them to ask if they can do more in that area and that is something that the Department is interested in exploring over time.

In terms of the Arts Council, the Department is entirely respectful of the arm's-length principle and the independence of the council in terms of its funding decisions. As stated earlier, the Arts Council would be a participant in any forum that would consider these issues at a national level. We would certainly be happy to present issues to the Arts Council and engage with it on them. I am very confident that this is a topic that the council is very interested in exploring. The licensing question may well prove to be one of the more difficult and challenging issues.

I will not get into the nub of it now. The situation in other jurisdictions might be different, but it is the way it is in Ireland for a reason, and many stakeholders are involved. If our process raises issues, we will ensure that there is a response to same.