Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I recently met representatives of the Arts Council, who when deciding on their funding programmes are taking into account how the arts and arts centres can contribute to The Gathering Ireland 2013. However, they do not envisage being in a position to allocate their funding until the new year. Obviously we would prefer to see that happening before the new year, but that is their call and not mine. The Minister of State, Deputy Ring, has been in contact with the county managers and mayors of the local authorities to ask them to set aside even a small amount of money from their budgets next year to support events such as this.

See this speech in context