Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are slightly drifting off because the focus was on community and voluntary activity. It is significant with regard to the Abbey Theatre and the National Concert Hall and it is good that there is a Government commitment to it. Ms Nash and I attended a very enjoyable performance last night in the National Concert Hall. It is good that there is a recognition of our national cultural institutions. It does tie back into the recommendations of our report. These cultural institutions have also engaged in major programmes with emerging artists and voluntary and community groups. At the National Concert Hall last night, we talked about all the schools that had become involved. Everything should tie together. It should not be the case that local community and voluntary arts, the professional art sector and the national venues are kept separate.

It is important to support all those programmes and try in our report to tie elements together and link them back. I want to come back to this because I am conscious of the very specific recommendations we are looking at making. It is also feeding into the tourism report. I ask that we consider some of the feedback we will receive from the festivals about the impact on the tourism and creative sector. We are probably a bit further down the line with some of the recommendations we are making on the tourism side. It is a serious concern. I refer to the point about being able to access rooms and the cost of those rooms. I worry that it will seriously impact on festivals and musical activities, and not just in getting people. If people are passionate about a particular festival, they will travel to the far end of the country to attend. If accommodation is too expensive or unavailable, however, it puts a stop to it.