Ms Andrea Irvine:

It is terrible that there is 90% unemployment. As a result of the increasing prevalence of the gig culture, as it is known, absolutely no provision is made on a job-to-job basis. If one gets a job, that is a great. This vulnerability is linked to the significant levels of harassment and bullying. As it is so hard to get work, people are afraid to cross anyone or stand up for their rights in case the phone stops ringing, as Ms O'Loughlin has said. Nobody sits people down in such circumstances to tell them what is happening. When the phone stops ringing, people lose their livelihoods. As people become isolated by virtue of not being engaged with their community, they get angry and upset.

We should ensure that artists want to keep making art and to stay in that community and are able to make their contribution. I am sorry but I do not have the statistics for women with me, but when one sees the Waking the Feminists statistics on the numbers of women playwrights, directors and even actresses on the stage, one asks how they can thrive in what is a very difficult and competitive business. The answer is that many of them are not thriving but rather are finding it very difficult. If they are in a relationship, they become an economic dependant. There are no supports for women with families within this profession that acknowledge its precariousness or acknowledges that there are days off and evening work but then days when one could be working long hours. There are no support mechanisms in that regard whatsoever. So many women in their late 20s and 30s have just vanished. Perhaps they will come back when they are about 50 and will get to play crones a lot of the time. There is a real problem in seeing the legitimacy of women in the arts and artists in general financially. These are very real problems, and ongoing, unfortunately.