I ask the Leader to arrange for the Minister with responsibility for the arts, Deputy Catherine Martin, to come before the House at the earliest opportunity to outline her views on recent media coverage regarding the practice of the Arts Council of funding lucrative consultancy work for former employees. In particular, it would be important that the Minister would be able to assure the House that such well paying work is awarded, whether directly or indirectly, in line with proper oversight and consonant with good governance and best practice. It would be equally important that the Minister would comment on how one particular ex-Arts Council insider should this year have been paid €15,000 of Arts Council money to produce a four-page report that resulted in the near destruction of one of the country's oldest and most successful arts festivals. The role of the Arts Council in all of this remains murky and opaque. According to the weekend media, there is a clear overlap between this appointment and the scandalous mismanagement and collapse of the Temple Bar Trust which at the time cost taxpayers dearly and left a sour taste in the mouths of Dublin City Council and other stakeholders.

I draw the Member's attention to the Standing Orders in respect of privilege, which the Member is making use of.

I appreciate that. I have been very careful. I have tried to raise this matter on a number of occasions on Commencement matters and I find an amazing push-back against it from the Minister's Department, which is quite perplexing. I have to resort to this. We have all been shocked, as no doubt the Minister was shocked, by the revelations about bad governance at RTÉ. Perhaps this would be a good time for the Minister to be proactive in ensuring that the highest standards are met in all the other public bodies that come under her remit. I suggest she might make a start with the Arts Council.