Emergency talks sought over future of Sherkin course

An emergency meeting has been sought aimed at staving off the closure of an important arts course which generates around €150,000 per year for the economy of an island off the south-west coast.

A number of Cork county councillors expressed anger that the BA course in visual arts on Sherkin Island was under threat because their own local authority had cut its funding from €20,000 per annum to €10,000.

The course, which is run along with Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), is under threat because the council will no longer provide funding which matches that from the government.