Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes. I met with the chairman of the Arts Council the week before last and I brought up the very issue of ensuring, in return for the €141 million that is voted from the Dáil to my Department and overseen by the committee through the Estimates and the Revised Estimate, no one is left outside the tent. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí ÉIreann should not need a separate relationship with the Department in order to make sure events such as Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, Fleadh na Mumhan and Fleadh Cheoil Luimnigh can be sustained. We have a body responsible for the expenditure of public moneys for the development of the arts and that is what it should do. It should not exclude anyone, including, for instance, country music or comedy. I have just come into the Department but I have already alerted the chairman of the Arts Council that when Niamh Brennan's report is concluded, which I hope will be towards the end of the year, it will be my ambition to look at what modern Ireland's sense of culture and the arts is, who feels excluded and who needs to be included.