Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses to today’s meeting. I noted what was said in the value for money report. I was chairperson of the arts facility in South Dublin County Council and I wish to put on record that, as Deputy Mulherin said, local authorities have done as much for the arts in counties as the Arts Council and Ms McBride was the first to recognise that herself. She did say she had to cut back on funding. I urge her to put funding for local authorities at the top of her funding priorities as I can see best value for money coming from the meagre budgets councils now have. I say that from the perspective of more than 23 years on the council. Local authorities put a lot of their own money into capital provision for the arts but the ongoing day to day funding and support from the Arts Council is very welcome. Such funding should be a top priority as it brings the arts to the people. Another speaker asked about the social value of funding for the arts. That would be evident if one did an audit of social value in local areas. People are now engaged in the arts who were not involved heretofore and access has been greatly improved.

Senator Ó Clochartaigh spoke about funding for traditional arts and culture. I was always strongly of the view that a separate allocation should be apportioned to traditional arts versus the modern, if one likes. I do not know how it could be done but if traditional arts are not funded, they fall by the wayside. Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú always promotes traditional music and Irish language facilities and plays for people who are not traditionally involved in the arts who were great artists such as Travellers or others. It is important for them to have plays in their own language on occasion. Funding for such minority groups and women is important to ensure they are given an opportunity.

The internal audit has the responsibility for audit on expenditure but in practice, because expenditure only involves 10% of the overall budget of the Arts Council there was a recommendation in the report and a circular was sent by the Department as well, Circular 13/14, that the internal audit on expenditure should encapsulate programming and expenditure.

I could not see the performance indicators in the report. Have they been drawn up or who will draw them up? In local authorities one can look at the 40 or 50 performance indicators.

Where can I find the 11 performance indicators? That is why an artist is very valuable. There is left brain and right brain thinking and drawing up performance indicators but what is important to one person might not be important to another. Therefore, whose responsibility is it to draw up the performance indicators?

I also note from the report that it takes two months after the meeting when an organisation is granted funding for the minutes of that meeting to appear online. It should be possible to reduce that timeline. As the report says, there is very little redaction in the minutes. If that is the case, one could almost put them online in the following three days. Instead of two months, the timeline should be reduced to one. That would be a huge help for the general public. If one is seeking transparency, the kite has flown after two months and it is too late to do anything about anything then.

I congratulate the witnesses on the report. The overall synopsis of the report is that there is good value for money from the Arts Council. I congratulate the council on that performance.