KEN McCUE,
Sir, - I note with dismay the devaluing of the arts in the new Government Department headed by John O'Donoghue. Now that we have a National Arts Plan it is important that this Department gets in behind the Arts Council in the implementation of the plan and avoids turning this sector into a poor relation of sport and tourism.
Furthermore, the absence of the culture portfolio from this Department once again sidelines multi-cultural issues behind prisons, police and publicans in the Department of Justice, where the National Anti-Racism Awareness Programme is but an appendix. - Yours, etc.,
KEN McCUE, Development and Services Officer, Arts Resource and Training Services Ltd., Lower Gardiner Street, Dublin 1.