Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I hope the Minister has more luck than I had in gathering information about art pieces when I submitted questions to all Departments. The feedback I received was worrying. I agree that the scheme has major potential and has provided art around the country, has provided employment to young, emerging and established artists and has raised awareness of art. It has major potential but from what little research I have done it seems we are not getting the best bang for our buck. Most Departments have no clue how much they have spent. Three Departments had a vague idea of what they had spent but in most cases where they had an idea, capital projects that would have qualified for the per cent for art scheme did not draw it down. What I found most worrying was the opportunity lost by the scheme. The Departments of Health and Children; Transport; and the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the three big spending Departments in terms of capital projects, had no idea how much they had spent and no way of finding out. They did not see any reason to keep a register of what had happened in the past or to change their ways in the future. The exception is the HSE, which is considering employing someone to deal with public art. To date, no one knows what art is out there, there is no register or audit and no idea if items purchased with public money are still in place. Driving around the country, I see that pieces of outdoor sculpture have been stolen or defaced or degraded by the environment. Also, inappropriate pieces are being purchased and I am worried about the quality of the selection process and the monitoring of projects. Is anything happening in that regard?

I appreciate that most counties have an arts officer but they tend to be called in only for work undertaken by the local authority. We must use the resources we have to allow local authorities to take on public arts officers or consultant arts officers working between a few counties. There must be more monitoring of the scheme if we are to get bang for our buck. Does the Minister agree? I wish him well in seeking a register of what is out there, which I failed to do.

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