Interview with Colm Ó Briain, Special Advisor to Michael D. Higgins
Résumé
Rathmines, Ireland. 2nd May 2001
Colm Ó Briain is a member of the Labour Party. He was Chairman of the Arts Council between 1975 and 1983, Special Advisor to Michael D. Higgins between 1993 and 1997. He is now Chairman of the National College of Art and Design. This interview aims at completing the previous one by providing other elements about Michael D. Higgins’s background, and more details about the events surrounding the creation of the Department. It also reveals a particular attitude of defence towards intellectual justifications of Irish political decisions.
Alexandra Dilys-Slaby : What did your position as Special Advisor to Michael D. involve?
AD-S : What brought Michael D. to work on Third World issues?
AD-S : And where can one find those writings?
AD-S : So he moved from that area to the arts after that?
AD-S : What was the rationale behind the creation of the Department and what were the main stages of that process?
AD-S : Was that a purely Labour initiative?
AD-S : But how did the other elements of the coalition respond to that? Was there a consensus?
AD-S : What do you make of the distinction between arts and culture? Was there an element of Labour conception of the notion of culture?
AD-S : Did Michael D have an involvement with the naming of the Department?
AD-S : What do you make of the removal of the word culture from the heading of the Ministry when Síle de Valera became Minister? Did the word culture have a political meaning?
AD-S : What was Michael D’s personal input?
AD-S : How was Michael D. received as a person by the rest of the government?
AD-S : What about his relationship with the Department of Finance?
AD-S : What was your relationship with Michael D. and the staff of the Department?
AD-S : If you were to make an assessment of the whole term, what would be your major satisfactions and disappointments?
AD-S : Could you tell me more about Michael D.’s relationship with the other ministers?
AD-S : And what about Education?
AD-S : Would you say that Michael D. increased public awareness of the place of culture in Irish people’s everyday lives?