Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There are many ways in which we can renew and revitalise Ireland, but without a doubt an important pillar of renewing and revitalising our country is to refocus our support for the arts and culture. In that context, I am happy to support the motion put forward by Deputy Niamh Smyth.

An Ireland of opportunity for all would not just deliver a good education system, good jobs and investment in essential public services. To paraphrase what Seán O’Casey said of Jim Larkin, our fight must be not just to put bread on the tables of working families, but a rose in the vase, too. The arts were not exempt from the difficult adjustments of recent years. The resilience shown by musicians, writers, actors, film makers and other artists during this period of retrenchment has been remarkable. They have, in no small way, helped our country recover from the reputational damage inflicted by the financial collapse.

As the budgetary constraints lessen, and we have leeway for investment again, I believe it is time to plan for a new settlement of public support for the arts with a new public endowment for the arts in Ireland. Many dividends would arise from such investment. One is, of course, the pure economic gain, which is very substantial, but the importance of the arts and culture goes far beyond their monetary value. They define our character as a nation. Publicly funded art and culture display the dynamism of Ireland to the entire world. In turn, they encourage creativity and innovation in architecture, fashion, technology, product design, music and entertainment. If one believes in a more equal society, access to the arts is an essential ingredient, starting with our education system.

Three years ago, the trade union movement remembered the epic battle of the 1913 Lock-out. That centenary was marked by two particular events which illustrate my point. One was the remarkable Tapestry project, initiated by artists Robert Ballagh and Cathy Henderson, which brought together volunteers from a wide range of community groups, trade unions, the arts, schools and, indeed, the inmates of Limerick Prison. The final result was magnificent but no less important was the collaborative process by which it was developed and created.

Another commemorative event, in which I had an involvement as Minister for Social Protection, was for a group called RADE, Recovery through Art, Drama and Education, whose mission is to engage drug users with the arts and therapeutic supports. This project brought participants through all the elements of staging a drama about 1913. The poet, Paula Meehan, wrote the following about the project:

The project that is RADE allows the powerful processes of art to work their magic - painting, writing, acting, making in all its forms. RADE puts creativity at the service of personal transformation.

Ireland's economic renewal is taking shape and we need to take stock of what contribution can come from renewed investment in the arts. A couple of weeks ago, the Taoiseach had the privilege of opening Ireland 100 in the Kennedy Centre in Washington. The film director, Lenny Abrahamson, used the occasion to make the point that the arts were not just a photo opportunity for politicians, no matter how distinguished.

Occasionally, I bunk off from this place and go to see a film or a bit of theatre and I had the great pleasure a couple of weeks ago of going to see an adaptation of Lady Susan, the Jane Austen novella, called "Love and Friendship". I was delighted to see An Bord Scannán’s name on the credits because it was filmed, to a very significant extent, in the most beautiful Georgian places in Dublin. Jane Austen fans will know that at the end the heroes or heroines – usually heroines - generally got their woman or man.

An unfortunately large number of responsibilities have been given to the current Minister with responsibility for the arts and culture. It is well known in politics that if one is Minister for everything, one is, by and large, Minister for nothing. If I have heard anything from this discussion from all parties this afternoon, it is that we need to focus on reinstating what Michael D. Higgins, now our President, initiated when he became the first Minister exclusively for arts, culture and heritage when serving in Government in the 1990s. It led to a significant renaissance in the arts so it is important that all parties think of having a dedicated Ministry for the arts whenever a government is formed. The Government should have a global Irish forum on the arts in Ireland, modelled on the successful economic global Irish forum. So many people are involved in the arts in Ireland that we have a good story to tell. We also have a dark past in respect of the arts. My colleague beside me is from Limerick, as was an earlier speaker, and they will know that Kate O’Brien’s great novel The Land of Spiceswas banned by an earlier censorship board because there was a glimpse of two men being intimate with each other at one point in the novel.

The arts tell so many different stories of what life in Ireland has been like down the ages and how it can be imagined in the future, for better or worse. For that reason, I end by calling for cross-party agreement for a suggestion. Yesterday, we received the summer economic statement and it is clear that significant additional funds will be available to the Government by the end of the year. There are many requests for those funds but when I was in government as Tánaiste and Deputy Howlin was Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, we prioritised getting more funding into the arts in this special centenary year. There is a lot of capital renewal is going on relating to important institutions such as the National Gallery and the National Library. I propose that we continue the endowment that has gone into the commemoration of 1916 by rolling it over into the arts at both capital and current levels. We have to find the money to begin to re-endow the arts in a more generous way in this country and we can do that by agreement in the forthcoming budget. We are not taking money from anywhere else but continuing a quantity of money that was put in place by the previous Government for both capital and current funding of the arts. I would like to hear a response from other parties, and particularly the Minister, who I know is a great champion of the arts, to the effect that they will support this in the forthcoming budget.

See this speech in context