Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I thank Ms Dorgan and her colleagues for not alone sharing some of their wisdom with us but for the consistently professional campaign that they have had under way for several months now. It has produced extraordinary dividends in a short time. I recall in the worst part in lockdown some months ago something appearing on my Twitter timeline to the effect that in the rush back to normal we should decide which parts of normal are best worth rushing back to. The funding now being made available to artistic endeavour in Ireland is a new normal and we are not going back to the old normal. It is wonderful to see. The pandemic seems to have focused our minds on those things that are most precious and most valuable to us as a people. The arts sector is certainly one of those.

I have two quick observations more than questions, because the questions have been asked by many colleagues. I have many friends in the music industry who have never had support from the Arts Council or the State. They have thrived, succeeded and made a good life for themselves from music. It has enabled them to pay mortgages and raise families. They have done extraordinary work pursuing a life where they express themselves through their music. The vast majority play gigs all over Ireland. They do gigs for local arts festivals. In the main, they do not receive any funding and never have. We need to be especially careful in whatever support structures we put in place now. We need to ensure they have the opportunity to be able to somehow tap into these. We need to be careful to ensure there is no bureaucratic overload in accessing supports. We need to ensure that there is, as someone has described, a trickle-down effect. It is crucial to remain focused on that because thousands of musicians are sitting at home now unable to make a living. I reckon it will be at least this time next year before anything resembling a normal living returns for them.

My final point is not unrelated. Again, it has been raised consistently by colleagues this afternoon. We need to ensure that we continue supporting artistic endeavour through our local authorities. I have had the good fortune to know several of the arts officers in Galway City Council and Galway County Council. They are deeply passionate about the promotion and nurturing of arts in their respective areas. As a former local authority member and staff member, I know that in the past they have been acutely underfunded and unable to do the wonderful things they would like to do. We need to ensure that perhaps in this new normal there is renewed focus on the substructure and the deep roots they put down in local communities throughout the country. That ultimately allow us to nurture the artists of the future. It is especially important that we continue to have a significant focus on that.