Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I wish to raise two aspects that arise from the various reports produced by the McCarthy group and the Commission on Taxation. The first pertains to the issue of the tax exemption on which I seek the Minister's views. Although the McCarthy report suggested its abolition would save money, the case has been put forward that so doing would instead reduce tax revenue. The truth is in there somewhere but bearing in mind the erratic nature of artists' income, I am anxious that some arrangement should be in place, howsoever the tax exemption is refocused or rejigged, which attempts to take an average of income over a number of years. On the whole, artists are a pretty poor bunch and I understand that nearly 91% of them derive less than 25% of their income from creative work. Moreover, as the Minister is aware, even highly successful artists, of whom there are not terribly many, have erratic incomes. It may be from an exhibition every three or five years and God knows how often one writes a book. Therefore their income is erratic and the idea of taking an average of their income must be taken into account.

A more serious issue arises in respect of the funding of the Arts Council and consequently of the arts. I am conscious that we are more than an economy and that there is an intrinsic value to the arts, as well as the economic value of which the Minister has spoken. However, it appears that the Arts Council has committed and spent some of next year's funding this year. If true, this appears to be catastrophic. I do not know whether it is true.

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