Peter Cleere (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

To continue on the theme of the basic income for arts scheme, I thank the Minister for listening. We had a huge number of meetings and requests to continue that scheme. It has proved to be hugely beneficial to so many people in the arts sector. I acknowledge the work the Minister and his officials have done on that. As previous speakers have said, if the scheme could be broadened to allow more people to enter it, that would be most welcome to all those in the arts industry.

I will focus on two key issues. I welcome the record allocation of over €290 million in sport. That is a significant investment of this Government in sport. It plays a vital role in so many different ways. One of things we looked at is the major sport events. We had fantastic success with the NFL coming only a couple of weeks ago. That has had a huge economic spin-off. We have the Ryder Cup coming to County Limerick in 2027. I am looking forward to attending as the Minister's guest down at the Ryder Cup.