I haven't forgotten them.

I think they have always relied on a volunteer council, but also have paid employees. Someone may wish to correct me...

It's not my interpretation of "international", Dick. It is primarily how the Folk song Society itself interpreted "international" - or so I've been told by those closely involved in the society for many years. Of course, that was then. EFDSS, in incorporating the Folk Song Society, may not even still have such a remit on its statutes (again, I'm sure someone much cleverer than me could enlighten us).

You may feel that Comhaltas is irrelevant to the discussion, but I'm talking about the future of traditional culture. You live in Ireland. I live in England. I'm suggesting that if the preservation of a mono-culture is good enough for one, why shouldn't it be for the other? Irish traidtional music is, as we are constantly being reminded, in much better health than its English counterpart. So how can you suggest that the society entrusted with the preservation and proliferation of English traditional culture must adapt and become multicultural to reflect the society it sits in, thereby dilituing its central objective, while Comhaltas is allowed to perpetuate the notion of a mono-culture, which is increasingly irrelevant in contemporary Ireland? After all, if we're going to talk about justifying international public funding, Eire has had an awful lot of it, while at the same time being rather slow in embracing its new-ish multiculturalism. What a significant statement it would be if Comhaltas opened its doors to ALL of Ireland's folk cultures, helping them to feel at home and culturally valued...