237 Deputy Noel Ahern asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the annual grant awarded by him or with expenditure from his Department to the Abbey Theatre, Dublin; the reason, in this time of high unemployment, the Abbey is letting staff go and outsourcing work to the UK; if he will prevent same; if these positions have involved constructing sets previously carried out internally in their workshops will be retained; if he will introduce some joined up thinking for the national theatre in order that its attention is drawn to other Departments involved in employment creation and retention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2345/10]

Funding for current expenditure by the Abbey Theatre is provided by the Arts Council. The amount of this funding is a matter for the Arts Council which is statutorily independent and I have no direct day to day role in its funding decisions. Similarly, the day to day operations of the Abbey Theatre, and any decisions made in that regard, are a matter for the Board and management of the Abbey which operate independently of my Department.