Ms Angela Dorgan:

I might refer the Deputy back to Mr. O'Brien on the larger local arts question. In terms of the question on where the funding would go and how it is matched, for the arts sector in general, as members have said, this money, while welcome, is overdue. It is very important, when we are talking about any investment, that the question of State intervention is always a part of what is a three-part funding model for most of the arts sector. That funding model comprises support from either a local arts authority or the Arts Council, self-generated income such as box office activity and programming, and then sponsorship and philanthropy. Very few arts organisations funded through the Arts Council model are wholly and 100% reliant on Arts Council or State funding.

The challenge for 2020-21 and, as the report set out, up to 2025, is that it is not going to be a question that this sector keeps coming back for more money but to sustain the sector so it can get back to being as robust as it was. Two thirds of the funding that generates around the arts and the value of the arts in society is non-State funded. It is an investment that has other models attached but it is also an investment that comes back into the Exchequer. It is not a handout situation but a collaborative situation, where the arts sector delivers social cohesion and comfort and interpretation of our lives in return, and the State supports that. What is usual in arts organisations is that it is a house of cards in terms of how that is all put together. The arts sector in general is to be commended for being able to keep that going for so long. However, when we take away one of those key areas, which the pandemic has done, there is a case to be made for support.

Thankfully, it has been heard and delivered and State funding, for a time, until the restrictions are lifted, will be needed. It is not only to get us through this. We will keep coming back. More investment is needed in the arts so that more organisations can survive and thrive. We need it for new organisations as well. We are a new society. There are people left outside the funding loop because there is limited funding. We will need more funding, including more youth arts funding, as we become a more diverse society with more diverse arts organisations. It is encouraging to see the Arts Council leading the way on that with its human rights policy. The council recognises that in its funding. There will be more to make it more diverse, but it would not be correct to assume that the reason for supporting people through a pandemic is anything other than another measure for those in the arts who generate income for themselves. That option has been taken away from the arts.

I will comment on the trickle down and how that will work. The sector that is not traditionally funded can go back to being the commercial sector it is as soon as restrictions are lifted. It is a thriving commercial sector. The only reason it is not a thriving commercial sector now, temporarily, is because those involved cannot sell tickets, hold a festival or fill a field. These include people who build the tents and the rigging lights and who hire the rigging lights. They are part of the entire ecosystem that we put in with our submission, the iceberg. The commercial sector has been stopped from commerce. The arts and events sectors are not alone in that.

There was a question about local authorities. We all have a superpower in the national campaign for the arts group. Mr. O'Brien's superpower is local arts funding, so I will hand over to him for that.