Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I was at part of that conference on the status of the artist and the Minister does articulate her views and her commitment to this very well. I totally appreciate and think it is right that our decisions on the extension of the scheme are going to be evidence-based. My worry is that we will move into 2025 pretty quickly. Not all Departments move particularly quickly in renewing and developing schemes and acting on the reports and the evidence. However, it is important to give a clear indication that, acting on the evidence, there will be a continuation of the scheme from 2025 onwards. I totally understand, based on the evidence, that it may need to be tweaked and so on, but for the artistic committee it should show there is a commitment to continuing with it. The fear will be that we complete this scheme in 2025, there will be a hiatus and we will then be waiting to see what will happen. That is not what I would like to see happening.