Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to be joining the team in this area and replacing my colleague, Deputy Troy. I look forward to a positive engagement with the Minister and his team and parties on all sides of the House. The Fianna Fáil Party set out its stall during Private Members' business some time ago. The Minister is well aware of the opposition of the Fianna Fáil Party to the amalgamation of the cultural institutes and the reasons for the opposition. We understand and accept that, across all Departments, there must be rationalisation and we support the idea of shared services and improved and integrated procurement processes. We deplore the fact that a cost-benefit analysis has not been carried out in this instance. We are all united in support for the initiative next year, The Gathering, and we realise how important cultural institutions are to the success of that initiative. People who come to this country will be anxious to avail of the services of the well-established institutions. The institutions are opposed to the initiative. I accept the Minister's bona fides in this matter but the institutions are opposed to the emasculation of their role and the consumers of the product are opposed. Who is driving this and what motivated the Government to take this approach to the cultural institutions? It is opposed by many luminaries and the Government has decided on this approach without any cost-benefit analysis.

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