First it was on. Then it was off. Then it was on again. And now it's definitively off. There will be no performances of Janβcek's Jenufa in Opera Ireland's spring season, at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin next April. Bizet's Carmen remains - upped to seven performances - with a gala benefit concert and student performances of Mozart's Marriage Of Figaro.

David Collopy, the company's chief executive, describes the dropping of a production as "an immediate, short-term corrective action" to deal with Opera Ireland's accumulated deficit. The sanction of the Arts Council was needed for such a significant change to the company's three-year funding agreement, and, according to the council's acting opera officer, Gaye Tanham, the reshaped season secured council approval only "with great reluctance, but as a decision made in the cold light of day, recognising that a solution had to be found".

The reduction in activity, says Derek Keogh, Opera Ireland's chairman, is expected to reduce the company's deficit by £100,000. He hopes to clear the remaining £300,000 with a one-off payment from the council, a decision on which he is expecting this week.

Monday's announcement of Collopy's promotion to chief executive (he was previously executive director) could be seen as a reward for keeping the company afloat, keeping the Arts Council on board and buying time to attempt a longer-term rescue package. The chutzpah of the current strategy certainly takes some beating. It sounds like the bad old days the Arts Council hoped to turn its back on, when clients used to demonstrate the extent of their need for funding by the size of their deficits.

FRIDAY'S announcement of the premature departure of David Fisk as chief executive of the Ulster Orchestra has taken most of the musical world in Belfast by surprise. Fisk's 30-month tenure saw the appointment of Thierry Fischer as principal conductor and artistic adviser, tours to Eastern Europe and New York - opening the UK With NY festival in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks - and a return to the studio for a premium label, recording Jean Franτaix for Hyperion. The current subscription season, themed Visions Of Utopia, is probably the most adventurous the orchestra has undertaken, and in the wake of Fisk's departure questions have been raised about the orchestra's financial health.

This year's attendance figures are "marginally down", says a spokeswoman, quoting the economic climate and increased competition for the "leisure pound" of audiences in Belfast. The loss of sponsorship worth £70,000 sterling, from the Gallaher tobacco firm, won't have made things easier; the spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the tour to Eastern Europe had lost money or whether the current subscription season was breaking even; the New York visit did not make a loss, however. At the moment, she said, none of the orchestra's future activities is in doubt.

MERCE Cunningham's dance company will be the headline act at the first International Dance Festival, which will run in Dublin from May 8th to 26th. The new event's artistic director, Catherine Nunes, went after Cunningham because she felt this "20th-century giant of modernism" was the best introduction Irish audiences could have to contemporary dance.

The Arts Council's new five-year plan was submitted to the Government last week. This time, however, the council has come out and said it can't implement the plan in full unless it gets more staff. Restructuring plans, which would allow for better wages to attract the kind of talent the council needs, were submitted to the Department of Finance in August, and nothing has been heard of them since.

The council has just lost two more staff members: Lisa Moran, acting festivals officer, has gone to be curator of education and community work with the Irish Museum of Modern Art; Maura Eaton, music officer, has gone to become chief executive of the Music Board. The closing date for applications for the job of music officer is tomorrow, and Nessa O'Mahoney, the council's public affairs director, says she is curious to see if the economic slowdown will mean more applicants for the job - which has a pay scale of £22,000 to £29,000 - than recent advertisements for Arts Council posts have attracted.

Edited by Victoria White

arts@irish-times.ie