To give E.250,000 to arts groups in this recession is very positive.

There is a very strong cultural vein in the city, one that needs to be exploited more.

Walking around the city at the moment on the Grand Parade and St Patrick’s Street, I see we still have the happy Christmas and happy new year banners up…they look like they are crumbling off their connections. They are drab and we need to move on now with the city’s cultural programme for the year… at this moment in time, mid February…you would think there is nothing on in the city for the year.

The Titanic banner on the Grand Parade needs to replaced.

The recent luminous signs set up at different points in the city, one on Washington Street, the South Mall….advising passengers to slow down, belt up are fair enough…but the emphasis on the negative of don’t do the following does not create the positive environment such signs could create. At present these signs are intrusive on the landscape…the one on the Grand Parade jars with the World War I memorial space. The one on Washington Street adds to the drab look of the former Capital Cinema.

The city has 24 festivals ahead of itself this year…we need to push these and get people into the city…the arts form a major part of why our restaurants are full and give many people a purpose to come into the city.

The case in point being recently, the Sound of Music is on the Opera House and the bringing of thousands of families to the city centre….investing in our car park…our theatre…our local restaurants and bars, all of which are rate-payers.

This city is very good at providing support for the arts but we need to harness the arts more to bring people into town…we need to make Cork, that city of festivals, a city of arts…especially as we are investing heavily in it.