Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for my late arrival. I was at a meeting that went on far too long. I have two quick questions. Eímear Noone is a neighbour and friend of mine. We in east Galway are all exceptionally proud of her for what she has achieved and of her potential to achieve even more in the future. It is extraordinary that she and her husband have now built a superb recording studio in Kilconnell, a small east Galway village, and are collaborating with Stewart Copeland on some of his work from that location. It gives us an insight into the potential for musical composition in the worlds of film, animation and digital gaming.

That is just one example of an exceptionally talented and driven musician, composer and conductor. I am sure there are others with similar potential around our country, living in similarly remote locations. An ecosystem was mentioned earlier. In terms of nurturing that talent in situ and not having to centre it in our larger cities, what is missing right now in our State support mechanisms? If another Ms Noone was to arrive on the doorstep of a public representative in Belmullet, for example, and say she signed a contract to compose the soundtrack for a new game but she wants to do it there, what are the support mechanisms available for them right now and what is preventing them from succeedingin situ?

We have an extraordinary kind of a nexus between all of our talent, experience and reputation around the whole world of technological and digital. We see some of the greatest global IT behemoths basing themselves here in Ireland. We have also developed an extraordinary resource of musicians and creators. Somewhere there is a sweet spot in between all of that and we are not maximising it to the greatest possible extent. I think it is because many people feel the need, obligation or pressure to locate in some of our larger centres. West Cork, the east Galways and the west Mayos could be equally as productive. What would that perfect ecosystem look like? That is a small question.

My second question is for Dr. May. I say “Well done” to her on an extraordinary hosting of a round of the cyclo-cross world championships in the Sport Ireland centre. It was a phenomenal day and a great celebration of cycling and cycling culture. It was an opportunity for us to showcase, as a country, what we are capable of doing when it is asked of us to stage something of that scale and nature. It was superb. I am hoping that can become quite a regular occurrence. Alongside that, I know Dr. May is deeply involved in the development of our national velodrome. I would love to know where that is at this point in time. Not dissimilar to the world of music, we have the potential of extraordinary talent to emerge and be nurtured through a national track cycling initiative. To have the velodrome open and functioning would be wonderful. About six years ago, I was fortunate to visit two national velodromes in New Zealand and meet two eminent Irish cycling coaches who were based there at the time, simply because there was no opportunity for them to do the cutting edge work they were doing in Ireland in an indoor velodrome. I am sure that potential exists in Ireland as well.