Ms Stephanie O'Callaghan:

What I wanted to say does not specifically relate to Creative Europe but it is more in the context of the role that the Arts Council has in looking at this. Sustainable tourism is not quite the motivation around it but the Arts Council seeks to support festivals on a year-round basis. The Arts Council makes a significant contribution to arts festivals, both major festivals and the over 150 small festivals throughout the country.

Moreover, there is wonderful infrastructure of arts centres and venues throughout the country.

The Arts Council has an almost 40-year partnership with the local authorities and, in fact, was instrumental in setting up the arts officer role in 1985. It seeks to animate local communities and areas, with spin-off effects regarding wider tourism and other benefits in that regard. I thought I should nakedly grab the opportunity to outline some of the ongoing work we are doing in that regard.