Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh gach éinne atá anseo. I have great experience working with many of the people here as a former Minister of State at the then Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and together with Equity and other trade unions to try to get collective bargaining rights for freelancers, an initiative with which we had some success. I wish to make some general comments which people might then reflect on or answer. As the Chairman has done, I give great praise to those who are brave enough to come forward to talk about their experience in the arts world. The Waking the Feminists movement was particularly strong in this regard in talking about gender inequality in the artistic world, particularly the field of drama.

I attended a gender equality conference a number of years ago and I remember being very taken by a contribution by, I think, Rachel Lysaght, a moviemaker. She said 75% of the moviemakers in Ireland are male and, therefore, 75% of the storytellers through film in Ireland are male, and that has an impact. First, I would like the witnesses to talk about gender equality in the sector in its totality. My first question is what practical measures are being put in place to ensure we have gender equality on boards and as a live issue in every facet of the work people are doing, not just in oversight, but also in production?

I was taken by the Arts Council's comment that it is not a regulatory agency. I understand where it is coming from but I was also interested to hear that Equity was very impressed with the interaction it had with the Dublin City Arts Office, although it is not a regulator, and its view of the different work it was overseeing or funding. My second question is whether issues of gender equality, the workplace, policies and procedures that are in place, and governance have to be taken into account before departmental funding, be it through the Arts Council or otherwise, is handed over. Should the Arts Council, even though it is not a regulatory body, not always be conscious of this?

Do people feel that the arts is an area that leads to the cult of the individual? The cult of the individual can be positive but is often a very negative thing when an entity becomes synonymous with the person leading it and then the person becomes almost all-powerful and very difficult to challenge. Is this more prevalent in the arts than in others areas and, if so, how can it be tackled?