IT was a busy week for Gerard O'Toole, executive chairman of Nissan Ireland, as several sponsored events were packed in from Monday to Wednesday when a crowd gathered in IMMA to hear who would be awarded the first £40,000 Nissan Art Project.

Declan McGonagle, director of IMMA and chairman of the jury panel was excited by Irish born Frances Hegarty and English Andrew Stone's submission. He was also looking forward to the major Andy Warhol retrospective, which will include works by Warhol's mother - a little known Czech folk artist who painted under Warhol's real name, Warhola - that will take place in IMMA later in the year.

Ciaran Benson, chairman of the Arts Council, described this as being a very dynamic time for the council, with several new jobs to be announced soon just as the summer festival buzz gets underway. Other people enjoying lunch and commenting on the neon extracts from Ulysses which Hegarty and Stone plan to suspend around the town were Circa editor Tanya Kiang; the Hallward Gallery's Brid Dukes and Mary Touhy; Dublin city architect Jim Barrett; art critic, the Rev Cyril Barrett; and John Stephenson.

Gerard O'Toole was also at Trinity College when Michael Mansfield QC, best known for his defence of the Birmingham Six, gave the annual Nissan lecture, supported by members of the legal fraternity, including High Court judges Mr Justice Richard Johnston, Mr Justice Vivian Lavan and Mr Justice Paul Carney, Judge Gerard Buchanan, Regius Professor of Law at TCD, William Binchy and many senior counsels and barristers.