In the first full year the Arts Council was up and running, 1952, it had a budget of £10,000. When its structure was amended by Charles Haughey in 1973, to create the present administrative structure, it had a budget of £85,000. This year it has a budget of £26 million.

The arts sector of this country is booming and complex and needs careful management. Managing the arts is different than many management jobs, because your end product should be imagination and creativity, not necessarily money. But that makes arts management more, not less, difficult than other management jobs.

The new Arts Council, appointed by the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, has less arts management experience than the last one. Perhaps that's not really the issue, however. Shouldn't we at least ask the question whether a group of 17 unpaid individuals appointed by the minister of the day is necessarily the best way to put together a management team to run the arts in Ireland? Not before congratulating the new Council, chaired by Brian Farrell, who combines intelligence with approachability. And not before calling for a round of applause for the outgoing Council which was superb: Eavan Boland, Paraic Breathnach, Mary Elizabeth Burke-Kennedy, Jane Dillon-Byrne, Eithne Healy, Proinsias MacAonghusa, Ciaran Mac Gonigal, Paul McGuinness, Laura Magaghy, Vic Merriman, Pat Murray, Aidan O'Carroll, Terry Prone, Vivienne Roche, Kathleen Watkins and John Wilson, who had, in Ciaran Benson, an exceptional chairman.