Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses and join them in welcoming the funding that was apportioned yesterday. It is no more than the sector deserves and, pandemic or not, it is recognition of decades of hard graft by numerous people, many in a voluntary capacity. I want to tease out not so much how the additional money will be spent, but the point touched on by the witnesses, who acknowledged that many competing interests are looking for that money within one sector. Ms Dorgan used the phrase “trickle down”, which is a phrase also used earlier on “Morning Ireland” by a member of the arts sector when wondering how this funding would trickle down.

I have two questions. First, the witnesses referred to the task force and to the adjudication of that. Are they happy supports will be delivered in a timely fashion, given there are so many aspects to be deliberated on?

Second, the witnesses mentioned a possible avenue of better funding for local authorities. I want to put a caveat on that even though many local authorities are particularly good in this area. I am from Navan. The Meath local authorities have the Solstice Arts Centre, which is a very visible physical edifice that supports theatre, live arts, galleries and so forth. However, it is also a massive drain on resources in respect of fixed costs. If we were to support local authorities in regard to the arts, I am sure there could be those in the finance sections who would think they would be helping the arts by paying the debt. There is that caveat. The witnesses may say they think we would be doing good by supporting the local authorities, but when they are supported, it is a matter of how that strand of funding is spent. I would be interested to hear their thoughts on that.

Ms O’Donoghue touched on the challenges in 2021 and this relates to Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan's point on ways of reimagining those arts festivals in 2021 and how an income can be derived from them. While the increased funding yesterday was very welcome, the model, like so many other things, is obviously broken, and we had the sports sector before the committee last week with similar issues. There is the question of how we reimagine that model to make sure it is not a case of continued Government support being the only way this sector will survive, but also how that model can be reimagined to raise finance during what is likely to be an even more challenging year next year.