Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yet artists feel as if the show had served its purpose because it is the only show. There is no deeper feeling, no underlying purpose, no sense that art - unlike elocution lessons or jewellery - is not an accessory of status and is emphatically not an accessory of power. Art is a republic. The Republic proclaimed in 1916 is an authentic expression of people. It is a voice that cannot be scripted by government. It is an energy that cannot be contained, but it is the controlling urge to script and the political need to contain which has effectively shunted Irish artists off the political stage. This is the most diverse Dáil in the history of the State but, shamefully, in the organisation of this Government, we have had the least consideration for the arts for a generation.

It is the truth that artists articulate themselves with anger, certainly, but also with determination. It is that determination that has brought so many artists and arts organisations to speak with Deputies from around the country over the recent weeks. It is that determination which brings us here today. Across the great majority of the House, outside of Government, there is solidarity with artists. There is a political understanding that the role of the Government in relation to the arts should be supported to champion but not to control. The agenda of control is insidious and, pointedly, it is still on the table.

One of the worst attacks on the integrity of the role of artists and of the role of culture generally was the insistence of the last Government to bring the governance of several of the national cultural institutions under the direct control of the Department. The disrespect and the contempt of that agenda continued seamlessly through the disregard shown for the arts in the formation of this Government. This diminution of the arts and of any wider sense of what our culture has given our people is sadly underlined by the entire abolition of heritage from any role in the mission title of the responsible Minister.

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