Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's answer is ignoring the actual, physical, material experience of circuses now. That information may have been gleaned through the Department or the Arts Council but the circuses are not getting the money. The Arts Council confirmed this week that it is not providing traditional circuses here with meaningful funding to counteract the devastation caused by Covid. Whatever the Minister is being told in her Department or the Arts Council, these circuses are not getting it. I ask the Minister to please meet with Duffy's Circus and the people involved in traditional circuses. There is a chasm between what the Minister just said and the experience on the ground. I have gone around in circles. We have spent at least four or five months putting questions to the Department, ringing up secretaries general, and having conversations with the Arts Council. The Arts Council said there is no money for traditional circuses.

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