Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

On a similar theme, it is quite extraordinary that the committee dealing with the arts should only have met after the budget. That says it all in terms of the commitment of the Government to the arts, in that there was no discussion whatsoever prior to the budget about properly resourcing and funding the arts. This was after we had a major discussion in this House in which Members on all sides pledged their verbal and rhetorical commitment to the arts. When it came to allocating money that would make a difference, however, and turning words into reality, the committee did not even meet until after the event. Is it any wonder that we had the pretty shocking decision of the Government to cut the arts, culture and film budget by 16% and to cut the Irish language budget by 9%. We had a €30 million cut in the case of arts, film and culture and €5 million in the case of the Irish language.

I have heard the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs since saying that there was an extra €50 million provided for the Centenary which was a once-off allocation, thus justifying the 16% cut. Surely the Taoiseach knew and if the Cabinet committee had met it would have acknowledged the fact the National Campaign for the Arts had very specifically asked in its pre-budget submission that the entire €50 million that had been allocated to the arts for the Centenary would be retained. That was a very modest ask because, as the Taoiseach knows - I do not know why he finds this particularly amusing - the debate in this House and the argument put forward by the National Campaign for the Arts was that we should move from the miserable 0.1% of GDP that is spent on the arts in this country in the direction, at least, of 0.6% which is the average spend on the arts in Europe. There was no move at all, despite all the rhetorical commitments. There was no actual move. Members of the Government are happy to jump in front of the cameras when there is a photo opportunity for the Centenary or some other arts event but when it comes to listening to the artists and giving resources, there is no meeting and an actual cut in the budget. I do not see how the Taoiseach can possibly justify this. The National Campaign for the Arts is asking the Government to reconsider and I ask the same. Will the Taoiseach reconsider? Will this committee meet and take seriously arts, culture and heritage which is one of the greatest assets of this country but which has been treated as a very poor second cousin when it comes to the allocation of resources?

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