Tonight's meeting in the Curtis Auditorium at Cork School of Music is something that many in Cork would not have been expecting to sit down to, barely one year after the long-awaited facility finally opened its doors.

This had been one of the city's longest running sagas, meriting yards of column inches, protests, meetings, anti-climaxes (remember 2005?) and finally the joy at seeing the the ribbon cut and the wonder on people's faces as they were at last permitted to enter this fantastic, modern building. One could have been forgiven for thinking it had been worth it all in the long run. However, tonight, swords will be clashed over planned budget cuts and the campaigners who fought for so long to ensure their children could learn music in the most up-to-date confines will be unsheathing their blades once more.

According to Cork Institute of Technology, the cuts at its School of Music are actually less than those in other departments and represent a reaction to rising costs in other areas of the entire faculty's management. They also say that first and second level students will not be hit by these planned cutbacks.

The wounds, however, had not healed on this particular hot potato and following the combined efforts of so many in Cork to ensure this project finally came to fruition, the mere mention of the word 'cutback' was always going to provoke a special kind of ire.

Minister for Education, Batt O'Keeffe TD, has been invited to the meeting tonight - it will be interesting to see what he has to say on the issue as many of his constituents will be those hoping to, or already sending their children to be taught at the facility.

One thing is for sure, this issue is only getting started and a timely injection of the required funds would not only pacify a potentially disgruntled section of Cork's public, but also restore their confidence in CIT as it moves forward towards University status.

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