Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her reply and the Minister, Deputy Martin for her funding for the outdoor public space at the Carlow Exchange in Carlow town. This is beautiful for the community. I am aware of the €210,000 awarded by the Arts Council, which I welcome, but again I feel that this answer is not a good one in the sense that we have a fabulous building and a crisis with the cost of living and heating and electrical costs, and the different factors associated with that.

We are now in a position, having gone through Covid-19, as the Minister will be aware, where one of the most significantly hit sectors was the arts sector when artists through their work could not entertain. In Carlow, groups that were to present visually could not do so because of Covid and this was through no fault of anyone. This brought something of a crisis to that sector. Why do we have a beautiful building? Unless we can sustain it and unless people can use it because they can afford to, such as community groups and artists, then we have a problem. While I welcome and am very thankful for this funding, we need a great deal more funding into the future. From talking to staff of Carlow County Council, I know they are thankful for the funding that has been given, but on the bigger picture and scale going into the future, we need central government funding because if we do not get it, I do not know whether the council can continue putting funding into the VISUAL centre to keep it going.

We have the best volunteers in VISUAL who go in and spend hours of their time giving back to the people of Carlow and all around the country and to everyone who runs it. I am very proud of it but it is important with the cost of living and of everything now, that extra funding be provided. I thank the Minister.

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