Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom cúig nóiméad a thógáil agus an chuid eile a roinnt leis na daoine eile. I also laud the Acting Chairman's generosity with the time.

Creideann Sinn Féin go bhfuil ról lárnach, luachmhar agus ríthábhachtach ag na healaíona, ag an gcultúr, ag an oidhreacht, ag an nGaeilge agus ag na Gaeltachtaí i ndea-fheidhmiú agus i leas ár sochaí in éirinn. Is cuid dar bhféiniúlacht iad leis na gcianta, mar Stát agus mar dhaoine.

Arts, heritage and the Gaeltacht are central to who we are as people, deeply embedded in the psyche and fabric of Irish society in towns, communities and across the country. They give us a sense of place and belonging. They are also central to our birth as a State; I can think of no other country that can map its genesis so completely to a revolution so immersed in the arts, culture, heritage and language, in the form of the Irish language. When the Government members are abroad they trade on the words of our Nobel laureates, while at home the Government wheels out the sector in order to impress guests. However, there is a deceitful dichotomy in the superficial way the State deals with the arts.

The arts sector is populated by artists who, on average, earn less than or the same as those on social welfare. It is unbelievable that we have a Minister who typically earns ten times the average salary of artists in this State when she claims to represent them. Precarious employment in the arts is the rule rather than the exception and, in an unfortunate Irish tradition, many of our finest artists are forced to leave the country in order to survive.

The Government has created a Frankenstein Department without coherence, spanning a diverse range including mná tí, ballet, bogs, butterflies and broadband. The arts has no specific Minister at Cabinet and any pretence otherwise is transparent nonsense. Having no voice at the decision-making table means there is no influence, and the words "culture" and "heritage" have been drop-kicked from the Department's name. The Government in the past number of years has seen the arts sector as the first stop for cuts and budget reductions. The Arts Council has lost 27% of its budget since 2008, the Irish language has lost 51% of its budget since 2008 and the Heritage Council has lost over 60% of its funding since 2008. These are not victimless cuts. They hit at every level of the arts sector in the State and individuals at a local level working within the arts community. Funding is both a measure of Government priority and the key foundation on which this sector operates. The Irish budget for the arts is a fifth of the average European budget, which is a shocking statistic and an indictment of this Government's policy. The necessary spaces in which artists cross-pollinate cannot be created without funds. This Government is involved in bogus economics and even if one measures the arts sector based on just the greasy till and ignores the intrinsic value of the art itself, one should know that investment in the arts makes economic sense.

This year in Meath we will be blessed with both the Kells Hay Festival and the Guth Gafa international documentary festival. The Hay Festival's audience has grown from 1,000 people to 250,000 visitors worldwide. This generates millions of euro of revenue for its host towns. An Guth Gafa was based in Donegal but because of the threadbare budget it had, it was forced to move and is now operating elsewhere.

5 o’clock

According to Indecon, €1 invested in the arts leads to about €3 being returned. Of the annual budget spent on the arts, nearly three quartersis directly returned to the Exchequer through taxation, either income tax or VAT, and for every €1 the Irish Film Board has invested in a film and television production €6 is returned.

Every song, poem, film, painting and play we produce creates a window for the rest of the world to peer through and get to know us as a people. This has enormous value, which influences positively every further engagement we have with the rest of the globe. By these measures alone, the Government's policies are damaging. However, these measures alone are far too narrow. They disregard the intrinsic value and contribution of the arts, heritage and culture sectors to society. They feed our souls, stimulate our minds and lift our spirits, something that is vitally important in these tough times. I know we have a short time on our side.

This year saw the organic development of the Waking the Feminists movement, which highlighted the disenfranchisement and chronic under-representation of the work of women artists. This movement has put equality at the centre stage of the arts. We need to ensure that the voices and artistic expressions of Ireland's marginalised groups, ethnic minorities, homeless people and people with disabilities have full access to the mainstream.

See this speech in context