Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I might suggest by the response, and I appreciate it has been provided to the Minister of State by the Department, that if this was a drama, he was trying to lead up to the denouement, because some of the language being used, such as "will be released shortly", "as she finalises the pilot scheme", "work on finalising is progressing well", "the policy is just concluding", and "has not yet been finalised but there will be an announcement in the coming weeks", provides us with these teasers that have been provided to us in many ways over the past year. It is important there is ongoing consultation with the sector so that the final scheme reflects the process of both the direct consultation and the online consultation. It is important, and I hope Deputy Feighan will bring this back to the Minister, that we get clarity on this very soon, and I will note her response in the coming weeks. It is also key, however, that we try to be as imaginative and ambitious with this scheme as possible. It will send out a very clear signal to our artistic and creative communities throughout the country of the importance of that sector and about how we recognise the contribution they make economically and socially to this country.