Eamon Scanlon (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister and the Bill. It is crucially important that the arts are supported. The traditional arts have been the poor relation of the Arts Council in recent years, particularly when one considers that they received only 1% of a €48 million budget. This is an indication that something is badly wrong. Were it not for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in the past 20 to 30 years, traditional arts would have been dead and buried. It is because of the work done by that organisation that the traditional arts are still alive and well in this country, and we are very lucky they are. I am delighted the Minister is taking the traditional arts into account and that they will have an input into the Arts Council when the Bill is enacted. I sincerely thank the Minister for that.