Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I am absolutely blinded by the spin. Let us have a look at it. The Minister secured an extra €5 million for the Arts Council. Is she aware the Arts Council received €83 million in 2007 but this year is receiving €65 million, a cut of more than 20%? Is she aware it is only now at the level it was six years ago in 2011? She said the majority of the 1916 money had been retained. That is not correct. There was €48 million in that regard and only €18 million of it - only slightly more than a third - was retained. That is misinformation. The National Campaign for the Arts asked that all that money be retained for the arts sector. The Minister completely failed to deliver on that. I will make a point on the statistics in a moment.

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