Ms Orlaith McBride:

The last Living and Working Conditions of Artists report we did was back before 2008. That report cost €100,000 at the time. During the years when our funding was reducing we had to make decisions, and it was decided that we could not possibly invest that kind of public money in commissioning of reports when actually we know what we know, which is that artists are not well paid and that they struggle to make a living. We did not think it was appropriate at the time to spend €100,000 to be told what we knew and what we know. The last economic impact study was in 2012. We did not feel it appropriate to use our reducing resources on impact studies, again for financial reasons. With regard to the theatre sector and the theatre community, at an Arts Council meeting last week we discussed looking at the impact of the current model of production at the Abbey Theatre on the full arts and theatre ecology, and how we will work with the sector to ensure we can address the concerns being raised