Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yes, it is wonderful. When we rely on the community - we are delighted with our educated community at all levels - and then we hand out €10,000 to community projects it seems a little contradictory. I am not suggesting that the Department would not double that figure for a particular project or idea. Sometimes we rely on the people so much and expect so much of them. They give so much from a voluntary point of view and from the point of view of ideas, creativity and imagination. We might exhaust them by not paralleling that in the overall structure of the millions that get hived off.

We make too many excuses about culture. We bow down and say, "Good morning, your honour." and "Good morning, your honour's dog.", whereas we will pay millions against banks. We have to stand up for culture and the arts. I would not take €10,000 as a starting point. If I was a Minister that is what I would be arguing.