Results 10,921-10,940 of 10,962 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: 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: 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.

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: Yes.

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 thank the Cathaoirleach. I think he is right. One of the things that was exposed was that the regulatory environment was certainly designed at a time when climate change was not going to be the enemy of wires and poles that it is, together with trees that have ash dieback and a whole clatter of other things. I am not satisfied that there was a sufficient response when parts of west Cork...

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 number of people who were without a service that was being reported to me was not accurate at particular times at the height of the storm.

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: It was way higher - multiples of the number. It is not good enough. Then there is the billing system. People are being left without a service and the companies have no problem in dropping an invoice into people's inboxes.

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: We have to look at this in the round. Storm Éowyn has probably provided me with an opportunity to bring forward modernisation that should be done anyway-----

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: -----and I will engage with the committee on that. On what the Cathaoirleach said about venues, we will try to do the grassroots scheme, which was a small pilot scheme of €0.5 million that was massively oversubscribed, next year with a bigger pot of money if we can. As to more venues, the Cathaoirleach is quite right. Most of the national cultural institutions are in Dublin with the...

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: Yes. It would involve the provision of the same type of system as the large-scale sport infrastructure funding, LSSIF, scheme. Local authorities would have to provide a site and some of the working capital. As well as that, they would have operate it. We will not be there checking the tickets at the door. If cultural spaces are going to be provided around the country, they have to...

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 clarify on the Deputy’s previous question, that is just for TG4.