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

To a certain extent, I understand the Minister's response but he responded to me last month on the issue of the Belltable Arts Centre in Limerick. We all recognised the very valuable contribution that centre had made and all of us expressed concern that for the sake of €300,000, that it went into liquidation. I put this question to the Minister in the context of the overarching role the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has in this regard. What sort of communication has taken place in the last month or so between the Minister, his Department, the Arts Council and the local authorities? What has been done by the Department, if anything, to ensure the financial model being followed by arts centres, which have really brought the visual arts and the arts in their broadest sense to people throughout the country, does not lead them into the predicament the Belltable Arts Centre was led?

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