Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)

The total regional funding for this year's Culture Night, which was allocated before I took office, is €150,000. It is quite small. The idea is to make small sums of money available to many communities. One can do a great deal with a small amount of money. An allocation of €1,000 could be used to get musicians together in a single location, for example. I find that a small amount of money can leverage an awful lot of value in the arts. People are happy to get a small amount of money to cover their expenses, such as hiring venues and compensating those who have to travel. The moneys that have been provided to date have been well spent and well funded.

The programme for Government contains a commitment to establish a second Culture Night. That is being examined. I think it might be a good idea to link it to St. Patrick's Day. There is major and widespread interest in cultural events throughout the country at that time of the year. The quality and diversity of St. Patrick's Day parades has improved considerably by comparison with previous times. As politicians, we attend parades and view them from platforms. A great effort is made in parts of the country that are keen to represent their own unique culture. This year, I attended parades in Tralee, Listowel, Abbeyfeale and Abbeydorney. To give a local example, the parade in Abbeydorney, which is an agricultural parish, had a focus on the land. There was a great display of vintage tractors, ploughs and everything associated with the land. Such events reveal aspects of Irish culture and heritage that might not be demonstrated during the rest of the year. Therefore, I suggest it might not be a bad idea to connect any second Culture Night event with St. Patrick's Day. I take the point made by Deputy Troy.

Culture Night is well established. It represents good value for money. We leverage a great deal of activity from it. As long as I am in this Ministry, I will promote the notion that there should be more widespread participation in it and that it should be of greater national benefit to all communities. Culture Night should not be confined to those communities that are aware of it and have capitalised on the grants scheme to date. The small fund that is available should be more widely distributed.

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