Garret Ahearn (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a simple question. I was at a comedy club in Cahir in Tipperary at the weekend. It has been set up in the last couple of months by a guy called Tom O’Mahony. It is connected to RTÉ because he does the pre-show for “The Late Late Show” every week. He is a genius. A brilliant comedian. He is bringing the best comedians in the country to Cahir in Tipperary which means we do not need to go to Cork or Dublin to see top talent. However, they get no funding from the State whatsoever for anything, that is, comedians in general. This is providing a service to communities living in rural Ireland. Is there something we can do, as a Government, to support those comedians? He is setting it up and doing it all on his own. He gets 100 to 120 people coming in. It is a brilliant idea. In terms of artists, comedians are treated differently. If this was a show that was done by the Clonmel Arts Festival, it would be funding from the local authorities or the State. He is bringing the best talent to a tiny little town.