Ms Siubh?n Nic Grianna:

Before we address those questions, I would like to acknowledge that we also very fondly remember Fergus Kennedy. I have very fond memories of his days working as a producer in Galway Bay FM, where he hugely supported the arts, before he ever got to Longford. We are sending our condolences from the Arts Council to his family on their very sad loss.

Longford Lights was funded under In the Open - Faoin Spéir, which was a one-off major national programme of events to come through Covid-19. We were very glad to fund it under that. I imagine the festival investment scheme is probably where that might next find a home. Obviously, whoever is involved can be directed to our head of festivals, Karl Wallace. We have heard great things about it.

With regard to the musical society, the main focus of the Arts Council, as everybody knows, is to fund the professional arts. However, our funding of venues such as the Backstage Theatre feeds into what those groups do. In recent times we were able to make some funding available to such societies as AIMS and the Drama League of Ireland to help those groups to access professional expertise that might help them. We are also working with local authorities in looking at other ways we could consider that would help them in ways that are appropriate to the council’s intentions.