Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

It coincided with budgetary requirements, and I suggest that this is not really case. To me this reads like cutting costs and finding means for making savings. I was very impressed with what the Minister had to say about cultural tourism, which is really important for the country, but bundling together all of these agencies that have quite different functions does not make sense as regards enhancing the attractions of cultural tourism. I wonder what is the logic.

On another point, I believe the Minister said he had asked the various directors to give their views to him on this. That sounds somewhat like asking turkeys about Christmas. The directors will surely not come up with a system whereby they will chop off their own heads and say, in effect, "I do not want to be a director any more — it makes a lot of sense to me". Behind this initiative, therefore, there must be some strategy or some plan.

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