Cork Fine Gael TD Deirdre Clune has raised the issue of the future of the Kino cinema in the Dáil with the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen TD. In reply the Minister has refused to intervene either to protect their grant investment in the Kino or to secure the future of one of the cultural highlights of the City praised this week by the Lonely Planet.

Just days after Cork was listed as a one of the top 10 places to visit in the world in 2010 for being “at the top of its game: sophisticated, vibrant and diverse” it is due to lose one of its cultural assets.

When I raised this issue with the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Martin Cullen, he confirmed that the Government would not be intervening to save the Kino. This is despite the fact that, as the Minister admitted, the Government provided a grant of €127,000 for Capital Funding in 1997. This investment of Taxpayers’ money will be lost if the Kino is just allowed close.

I have now written directly to the Arts Council, the Irish Film Board and the Cultural Cinema Consortium, a body established by the Film Board and the Arts Council, to promote Art House cinemas, highlighting the current difficulties faced by the Kino Cinema and request that they play an active role in resolving this difficulty.

It is vitally important that at a time when a major international tourism institution like the Lonely Planet is praising Cork for its sophistication, vibrancy and diversity that we do not lose an Art House cinema like the Kino.