Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

It is a fair point. They mesh extremely well. The report to which I referred in my reply was specific because of the 32 schools that were supported. It has only come into the Department in the past week or so and its assessment is only being carried out at present. The indications are that it has a very positive impact.

It is important to point out that a whole range of bodies in Departments, agencies, local authorities, libraries and so on are engaged with all the schools and there is a depth of arts activity taking place in the schools through various bodies. Clearly, the major report states that we want a more focused approach in terms of arts in education. That can only be positive for the development of our children.

Obviously, there are pressures on the other side and from the Department of Education and Science's perspective the school curriculum can only be so big. It is a question of trying to find space for all the demands that exist within the programme, which is a fair point. However, I am heartened because we would all admit, given the evidence we find in visiting schools, as we do, that the uptake in recent years in terms of general interest in arts and arts activity among primary school students in particular has increased significantly. What we want to do is capture all that good effort, formalise it and get it active in all the schools throughout the country. That is what I will be discussing with my colleague, the Minister for Education and Science.

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