Mr. Conor Falvey:

The Senator asked whether there was frustration with Dublin City Council. I have been talking to the council about this matter. To repeat some of what I said, there is a narrative. Bodies such as Give Us The Night have done a great job in shining a light on an issue. Journalists like Ms Una Mullally in The Irish Timeshave written pieces highlighting the pressures. The Minister is keen to respond to those and bring stakeholders together to see what can be done. The city council is anxious that we move forward on a strong evidence base. We are talking to it about how to proceed, and the Minister is ambitious. I have no doubt about the city council's bona fides and commitment to working with us on examining the issues.

Creative Ireland has a full programme in terms of creative youth and creative communities. It was involved in the development of the audiovisual and capital plans. Outside of the long-running elements in the form of creative youth and creative communities, its main focus is on the creative industries and mapping supports for same in the context of the future jobs initiative. That is not to say that we do not have other levers for engagement with Departments, but it is an interesting perspective.

The Senator missed the bit where I got to say that I am from Kerry. I am very familiar with the Hillgrove, Tralee and west Cork for various reasons. The pressures are different, so the responses for those locations may need to be different as well. There are places that survive and thrive. To name drop, I was talking to Philip King yesterday about "Other Voices". I mentioned that next Saturday night would definitely be the gig of the month in Kerry in November. The gig of the month in December will be when the Fontaines D.C. perform in Mike the Pies in Listowel, where they are returning to as a reward for the support they got previously. That did not just sell out - the tickets just disappeared into vapour in nanoseconds.

There are people who are managing it, but a very particular skill set is needed to survive and thrive now. We will consider the pilot projects and see what emerges, whether there are elements that lend themselves to rural Ireland solutions and whether there are other issues. It is a different situation, though. We have discussed how the festival format of consuming culture is to the benefit of some rural locations, but the appetite and demand for those experiences on a week in, week out sustainable basis, and creating an environment within which people have an opportunity to participate in them, is something that we need to consider.