Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

For our own members, we would probably do this post budget but could probably do it in one or two sessions.

I had to speak at the IMRO launch last week; I would say I was a late addition. One thing that came up quite a bit was the whole issue around artists, because of AI and everything else, having to do more performances in order to have an income that is sustainable. When I spoke there and mentioned that the Minister had said at our committee that he was looking at more venues, it was very welcome. It is obvious from their situation that they have to perform so much more but they do not have access to the venues to be able to do that. That was a message that came back loud and clear.

There was so much wind and rain in Portroe last night that when I woke up, the broadband was gone. It has come back in the last while. I welcome the fact that NBI is two years ahead. Just as an observation, there is also a misconception out there somewhere that the Minister needs to find money when I explained that actually it is ahead of schedule and this is just profiling.