L'Imaginaire Irlandais is a wonderful exhibition of contemporary Irish culture and I am looking forward to attending its official launch in Paris tomorrow. The interest in it in France is so great that 500 people attended the press conference a few weeks' ago. It will be important not only for its six months' duration but also for the enduring links it will establish between Irish artists and cultural institutions in France.
This is a significant achievement on behalf of the commissioner, Doireann Ní Bhriain, and the committees in France and Ireland who put together a programme. As L'Imaginaire is under the joint sponsorship of the President of France and Her Excellency, the President of Ireland, it would be inappropriate for me to interfere with its detail. Because it is the first large-scale exhibition of its kind in France, involving expenditure of £1.5 million, is preparation involved complicated negotiations about venues, artists and participants in France and Ireland. I am satisfied with the arrangements and I am also pleased about the long-term contacts it will secure between institutions.
There are complications regarding the visual arts in that some of the venues are under the control of the mayoralty of Paris or the French Government and others are under the control of individual cities. I am pleased that arrangements so far have been successful.