Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is the early influenza. Need I say more?

This is an appalling indictment of the Government's commitment to arts policy that its first meeting was this week and it has not met since June. There are enormous issues to be covered by the arts committee. We had an earlier debate about the sense of marginalisation of the arts community in the reconstruction and reconfiguration of the Department dealing with arts, rural and Gaeltacht affairs. It was not the centrepiece of that and there is a sense that the arts is not central to Government policy in any shape or form. The artistic community felt marginalised. The idea that the Cabinet committee has only met once in that period - and that was in the past week - is a shocking indictment of the Government's commitment to the arts, the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. That is probably reflective of the fact that at the Cabinet table we do not have a strong philosophy or focus on the arts in general.

In addition, it is arguable that if the committee had met earlier, it might have had a better influence on the budgetary position of the arts. I know the Department had significant expenditure in the subhead resulting from the investment in 2016 and the commemoration of the 1916 Rising, and this represented a major opportunity for the Department and the Government to maintain that base of funding and apply much of it to the artistic organisations across the country and artistic endeavour generally. There has been a 16% reduction in the Department's allocation. The Arts Council got some additional funding this year but we felt it should have got more.

We think that multi-annual funding for some of the key arts organisations is essential.

The Taoiseach will also know that Culture 2025 in its existing draft form is currently being revised by the Oireachtas committee. An explanation is required in terms of the purpose and the modalities of an implementation body relating to cultural policy, something that has yet to be finalised. Furthermore, in terms of Culture Ireland and the legacy programme coming out of 2016, will the Taoiseach indicate whether the Cabinet committee has confirmed separate mechanisms for arts funding in terms of legacy funding? Will that conclude in 2017 or what is the intention of Government in that regard? Did the Cabinet committee give any consideration to maintaining the existing expenditure base in the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs for the arts in particular? This is the funding that would have gone to a lot of the events pertaining to the 1916 Commemoration. Did the committee look at the idea of using that money for funding the arts and for the various arts organisations, including the Arts Council, the Heritage Council, the Film Board and Culture Ireland, to give them a substantial allocation which would have maintained the same base of expenditure in the Department but with the moneys going to the arts world and the arts community?

Will the Taoiseach explain why the committee has only met once since 8 June and then only last week? Why did it not meet from the time of its establishment on 8 June until 13 October?

See this speech in context