Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I thank Mr. Ó Coigligh.

I will go back to the Arts Council, if I may. The financial strain of everything we are discussing here is being felt in the sector. Ms Kennelly stated that demands for Arts Council funds have risen by 245% since 2020. I have some queries on why the Arts Council decided to reduce the arts grant funding programme without consultation with the stakeholders who applied for it and who rely on it. I know that the reason given was the 10% increase to the Arts Council's strategic funding as it provides jobs, but there is major disheartenment in the sector that 70% of the organisations in that category are Dublin based, and that effectively redirects resources away from regional arts groups. It is threatening the whole vitality of regional arts initiatives and that is despite huge increases in funding from the Government to the Arts Council. There seem to be no published criteria for how an organisation becomes strategically funded. Entry seems to be by invitation only or at the discretion of Arts Council staff. I would appreciate Ms Kennelly's views on that. How transparent or equitable is it? These cuts disproportionally hit small organisations, particularly those outside of Dublin. They believe that there is complete disregard from the Arts Council to them. They are not even listed on the new Arts Council website. Only the strategically funded organisations are listed.

Many of them have requested meetings with the Arts Council, which were agreed to and cancelled with no explanation. I understand there has been a change in Ms Kennelly's circumstances, which has come to light this week, and that may be feeding into that, but I would be really appreciative if we could get some clarity on this. Is it linked to the overspend on the IT system? I have conversed with Ms Kennelly on that in the past and she told me it is not, but all the indicators suggest it is. If it is, how will it be rectified so that these arts groups are not discriminated against as a result of mismanagement of public money?