Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

The starting point in this discussion must be that the arts are not a luxury which can be easily dispensed with in times of economic crisis. Rather, they represent a crucial part of our cultural identity and a key lever in terms of exploring and developing the creative talent and potential of all of our citizens. It could be legitimately argued that supporting the arts is even more important in times of austerity, in order to give people an outlet to develop their potential. We see the benefits and value of that in programmes run for young people, for elderly citizens and for troubled teenagers etc. There are unquantifiable results to these which bring a huge saving in terms of the health budget, mental health budget and the general well-being of society. In that context, we cannot see this discussion solely from the point of view of financial cost.

It is part of the problem with the McCarthy report that discussion on these issues takes place against the backdrop of threatened serious changes to arts policy. In that sense, I support the purpose behind the motion, namely, to ring-fence some of the fundamental principles regarding arts policy in general and funding. I wish to put on record the importance of the "arm's length" principle remaining and the necessity for cultural institutions and the Arts Council to get on with their work without political interference. We need only pick up a newspaper to see the importance of impartiality, particularly when we see what private ownership of the media has done in terms of distorting public opinion. In the matter of the arts, the independence and integrity of our cultural identity is critical.

On funding, Arts Council funding needs to be secure. However, there is a case for looking at how it is disbursed and for examining the role of local authorities and local authority arts officers and directing funding to them. These people are at the coal face and know what is going on, but they have not been receiving funding, rather the opposite. In fact, arts programmes have been diminished. If we are serious about developing the arts, this is where it must start. We have seen good projects, like the Over the Edge workshops that take place in Galway which are part funded by the Arts Council and Galway City Council, developing poetry workshops, publishing new poets and bringing development in that regard. While there is a basis for some streamlining, this should only be on the basis of the funding being ring-fenced.

The Arts Council has a role to play in continuing to support independent publishers. These play a vital role in terms of developing and publishing new writers, but they do more than that. They have brought and promoted Ireland's arts agenda abroad. Culture Ireland has played a successful role in that regard, in conjunction with publishers like Salmon Publishing and others, which have brought creative writing out of this country to workshops and facilities in America and Australia, which have generated revenue when these people have returned and have developed the arts abroad. For all sorts of reasons it makes sense to ring-fence this in order to secure independence and funding.

See this speech in context