Jim, that post has me confused. First you mention things like the Traditional Music Archive, Folklore Department, etc (all of which cost money to set up and run). Then you say that CCE "remain the recipient of the largest (by far) amount of public money".

Didn't the recent renovation of the Cork School of Music cost over €60 million? And the Arts Council must be getting around €100 million per year from the Department of Arts, Heritage and Sport. And isn't the Arts Council (which in their 2004 Report on the Traditional Arts went against the wishes of the CCE) responsible for doling out that money to the many applicants around the country, including to the CCE? In that same report the Arts Council admitted that they donated €37,000 to the Willy Clancy school, but nothing to the much larger Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. Also, around that time, about 17 branches of CCE applied to the Arts Council for grants, and only 4 were granted (for a total of less than €7,000!).      

Then you say you want the traditional arts to be funded and successful, and yet you seem to condemn Labhrás and CCE for working their butts off to do just that.

Don