Mr. Eugene Downes:

The National Campaign for the Arts believes that the development of a national cultural policy offers an opportunity for the citizens of Ireland to build a republic of culture one century after the Proclamation. We agree with the Government’s view that the draft document represents the beginning of a process and we look forward to contributing in that spirit to finalisation of the framework policy and to the implementation plan.

Even as a high-level framework, the draft policy document seems brief, with further expansion probably needed in a number of areas. A significant omission that concerns us is any reference to the principle of operational autonomy, or the arm’s-length principle of governance, particularly as it pertains to the relationship between the Government, State agencies and national cultural institutions.

We are also concerned that the proposed priority action of carrying out "a critical analysis of direct and indirect supports that are funding arts and cultural activity" seems to imply a review of the Arts Council, the Arts Act 2003, the Irish Film Board and the Heritage Council, among other funding agencies. We do not detect any desire among the broader arts community to reopen or unravel the basic structures for arts and cultural funding that have been painstakingly put in place.

We believe that a wide departmental review of this kind could risk diverting much time, energy and focus away from the urgent tasks of policy development, resourcing and implementation.

There are very few references in the draft to the artist, whose creative role should be at the heart of any cultural policy. Equally, the document should recognise that cultural heritage is contemporary as well as traditional. We welcome in particular the priority action to explore multi-annual funding, which would represent, if it happened, a crucial step forward in enabling more effective planning and delivery of high-quality cultural activity throughout the country. We suggest the draft should flag more realistically the scale of the challenges involved in progressing policy areas which have been problematic or underdeveloped in the past, for example Irish language policy or arts in education.

To make this new policy effective, the development of an implementation plan with specific and measurable actions and targets is clearly vital. We welcome the Government's commitment to move quickly to develop that plan in partnership with all the stakeholders, including the joint committee. On behalf of the Irish arts community, the National Campaign for the Arts is determined to help achieve a new cross-party consensus on a ten-year vision for culture at the heart of Irish life and society.