Results 21-40 of 10,964 for speaker:Patrick O'Donovan

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: No. That is the Arts Council supports.

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: That will all be predicated on what kind of a scheme, if any, I am able to put in place after the budget. As I said the last day, I am open to suggestions from the committee once the budget is over, assuming we get some amount of money to continue a scheme. As to what people would suggest as a reasonable and proportionate way of trying to administer it, I am open to any kind of suggestions...

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: To be fair to Screen Ireland we also have a number of different initiatives that were not there last year. For instance, section 481 has been expanded. The Scéál uplift has been brought into place. We also have an unscripted levy, which was approved by the European Commission this year. That will allow for reliefs in that area that did not exist previously. Even as late as last...

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I will not comment specifically on the article in the newspaper. Correspondence between me and the CEO of Sport Ireland, when it comes to an individual or group of individuals, and correspondence between the CEO of Sport Ireland and any national governing body of sport on the welfare of individuals who are involved in any national governing body of sport, I would take as being very important...

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The concept of multi-annual funding is something every State and public body seeks, and for good reason. Ministers look for it too because it gives us certainty regarding, say, the number of roads we are going to build, the amount of cables we are going to lay or the number of pylons we are going to build. It gives a certainty with regard to a whole pile of things. The events of the past...

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: What TG4 is looking for is not unreasonable in this day and age. The organisation had that at one stage and I do not know why it lost it. I presume it was connected to the collapse in the economy, but I am not sure. It is not an unreasonable ask and it is one we will work through with TG4 over the next while. I do not see why it should not be able to produce its own news. Obviously,...

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The total figure for TG4 is a little bit more than €60 million. The Deputy is right that it does excellent work. You will not find too many flip-flops down in Baile na hAbhann, from what I see. I did not see many Renaults in the car park being offered by way of a raffle or anything like that either. With regard to regional uplift, the Government brought this in before. With any...

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I am, but my keenness will be matched only by the support that I get from the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Chambers.

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: The Arts Council gets €141 million per year. This is a substantial amount of money. That has grown substantially over the past number of years. As I go around the country, there is an obvious question that I am often asked. I see some people on the front of a particular newspaper today asking, as Deputy Brian Brennan asked the last day, why comedians are not funded by the Arts...

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is a fair extrapolation on what I said. I never said that I would be directing the Arts Council to do anything. I was speaking in a musing way as to why one art form is covered, and another is not.

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: I know my legislative role. I would not care for one minute to overstep. Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann is funded directly from the Department. That is just bizarre that the Department has a lump of money for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and that for some historical reason - I am not really interested in the history - it does not get funding from the Arts Council....

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: It is in the programme for Government. It is something that we are going to try get. Any supports that members of the committee can weigh upon the Minister for public expenditure and reform at this sensitive time of the negotiations would be very welcome.

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: That is the reason I extended it. I did not want to have them cut off at the end of August and left without any sort of an income. I also did not want to cut it short on 31 December. That would be a real message of "Happy Christmas lads, we are cutting you off now". We are going to resource the first two months out of the Department's own resources next year. We have no money for it but...

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: There is and they are in the existing national development plan. Some have started and are well under way. The library project is started, as are the Crawford Art Gallery and the archives. I am not happy with the pace of these projects, to be quite honest. I have spoken to the Secretary General on this. We will have to see if there is a different mechanism to deliver them because it is...

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: Absolutely. It would be a very good idea.

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: It is in the programme for Government. We have had too much of a narrow focus in what is and what is not supported by the State by virtue of the artistic communities.

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: There are some people who feel outside the pale. Their music might be very popular in Monaghan but it may not be popular in certain parts of this city. That does not mean those artists should not get support from the State and at the moment they get zero.

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: Is that not an art form?

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: But that is an art form.

Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Estimates for Public Services 2025
Vote 33 - Culture, Communications and Sport (Revised) (15 Jul 2025)

Patrick O'Donovan: It is an art form. Ireland is a totally different place from what it was in 1941.