Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

Before the Minister gets totally carried away, I point out that he was the first Minister in recent times to reduce funding for the Arts Council, when he reduced it by €5 million in 2002. The arts community is still reeling from that reduction. Cuts were made that led to the loss of very good personnel, the closure of some venues and the stopping of touring.

Will the Minister consider the touring budget in particular and provide further funding? A beginning was made this year with €2 million committed from this fund over a three year period for various forms of arts. For example, the Druid Theatre Company is touring with John B. Keane's "Year of the Hiker" this year. The play was staged in Tralee recently, where it was full to capacity every night. It is now in Portlaoise and will visit Letterkenny, where centres were established with taxpayers' money over the years. However, since funding was withdrawn in 2002, some centres are not visited by touring groups. I ask the Minister to increase this aspect of funding, particularly in view of cultural inclusion. A report to be published shortly will outline that one of the main barriers to cultural inclusion in this country is that professional touring groups cannot visit all parts of the country.

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