Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

The website for the Gathering initiative is now active and it contains the information. The initiative will be launched on this Friday and more information will be available then. The events and festivals programme is not yet fully developed but we are getting there. There has been engagement with the City and County Managers' Association and also with the cultural institutions. The Gathering initiative should not be regarded as a source of grant aid because it is about what people and communities can do and what they can contribute. There will be some funding for existing festivals but it is not intended that thousands of grants will be distributed to bodies, towns or families organising events. That is just not possible. It is important to get that message out and understood. We will certainly set up a platform by which we can assist people to organise gatherings, but we will not be handing out money for people to organise gatherings beyond a limited number of festivals and events.

As regards Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan's question, I think the ingredients are there in many parts of the country. Places such as Killarney and Westport, which have led the way in tourism in many ways, look at it differently from the way the Deputy does. They say they are the bakers who will take the lead for their areas. In Westport, all the hoteliers contribute to a fund which is used to market the town. Killarney has been co-operating like that for a long time also. The Government can assist but the bakers are the people on the ground who make the most of what they have, and perhaps do not expect No. 44 Kildare Street to do it for them.

The Volvo Ocean Race will be a great event and I am very much looking forward to it. I do not know if there are plans to market The Gathering at it, but I agree with Deputy Walsh, given the number of journalists attending, it makes sense to do so. I will certainly take that up with The Gathering's project team.

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