Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. After a day down in the dungeon dealing with bankers and accountants it is wonderful to be in this beautiful room discussing cultural matters. We are fortunate to be here in the building that was once the RDS cultural centre and where the art college was located. We have the National Gallery, two museums and the National Library beside us. Many people throughout the country are not so fortunate, and we must extend this cultural experience, which we get almost subconsciously every day living in this wonderful location in a cultural capital.

I commend Senator O'Keeffe on what she is organising for the 150th anniversary of the birth of W.B. Yeats. Already we can see what a success it is with wonderful supplements in the newspapers. When I was in the Minister's constituency I dropped into Paddy Kavanagh's place in Inniskeen, where Paddy read his own poetry. It was such a wonderful experience.

All of these cultural experiences enrich us, even after bankers cleaned out the country between 2008 and 2010. We will rebuild it and in the rebuilding, the sectors which did not cause our difficulties should be better treated than those which did. I would like to see a measure to find the four or five sectors which caused the difficulties and address the problems directly. As I say in Trinity College, many things went wrong but Brendan Kennelly's poetry did not cause deterioration in 2008. Let us concentrate on the sectors which got us into this mess as part of the correction. One of the great debates we had was when Seamus Heaney's wife, Marie, and his friends came to the House for tributes to him, which the Leader organised. It was wonderful. It was like a book of poetry as everybody joined in with their favourite pieces of Seamus's poems.

As we rebuild after what happened to us, a suggestion has been made that orchestras and players in receipt of Arts Council grants should hold rehearsals in shopping centres and schools to bring the music and players to the wider community who might not necessarily go along to the National Concert Hall or the Abbey Theatre. It would be relatively inexpensive to do this. They must rehearse somewhere. If children could see all of the instruments in the orchestra and have them explained to them and meet the musicians it would be a wonderful development.

I commend Senator Ó Murchú for all his work as a distinguished musician and member of the Seanad. We must rediscover our soul after what happened to us. I hope there will be a strong cross-Border element. Traditional music is something people on both side of the Border have in common and it is an element well worth developing. Anything that brings the divided country together is, of course, extremely valuable.

I am delighted the Labour Party Senators tabled this motion. We have so much to be proud of, including all of the Nobel prize winners in literature and the credit they brought the country and how well they represented us. In the great cities of the world there is almost always an Irish play being performed. Our music is also renowned. After the nightmare period, as the amendment tabled by Sinn Féin states, we need to build up these institutions again and realise that for relatively small expenditure we can do an amazing amount of good for national morale as we forget about the bankers and accountants and get together in our culture, music and poetry.

The Minister will always have warm support on these benches and we wish her well in her endeavours. I thank her for the work she has done for the centenary celebrations. There is a terrific spirit which has been tapped into and which bodes well for the future.

In the university system funding for arts and social science subjects is a fraction of what the expensive subjects cost. In hard times, when trying to balance budgets as the Minister, Deputy Noonan, is trying to do, we can do many cultural things which would not cost the budget greatly. The Heritage Council and Michael Starrett made a presentation in Buswells Hotel. The small projects they have in very remote places, such as Bere Island in County Cork, are valuable in that they involve local people. There is a spirit there and it is up to us to assist the Minister she taps into it. I cannot think of anything which would be better for national morale.