Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

It is nice for the Opposition spokesperson to be able to say congratulations and well done to everybody involved in culture night. I attended, but the problem I had was there was too much to do. There were too many options, but that is not really a criticism. The event was excellent and should be flagged. Many people I know had nothing to do with cultural events prior to that, but they were very happy to participate on the night and take part. They enjoyed being able to see the various museums and galleries open to them, including Leinster House.

If I have a criticism it is that because there was so much to do and so many places to go, it was not extended to two nights so that people could have returned another evening or the following day to see some of the other venues. I appreciate the value of having everything on one night because there is a great buzz around that, but it is worth exploring the idea of extending culture night. I should say that culture night catered for all age groups and people were happy about that.

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