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

The Minister and I agree on the fact that there are major benefits for young children from access to the arts in that sphere of their lives. The report indicates that children from working-class backgrounds have less access to the arts and those benefits. Children with disabilities, especially in their younger years, have good access to the arts, but when they reach nine to 13 years of age that falls off considerably, those benefits recede as far as they are concerned. We also know that children with disabilities from working class backgrounds fare worse with regard to access. Children with disabilities from working class areas who do not live in the cities are at the bottom of the pile in terms of access. In many respects, they comprise a section of our society that is being denied these benefits. Why does the Minister not lock the spending of money in the arts to equality proofing? Why should it not be the case that one of the key performance indicators for every euro spent is that every section of Irish society gets a benefit?

See this speech in context