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

I thank the Minister for her reply. As she said, the last arts and disability strategy from the Arts Council ran until 2016. The strategy outlined the council's approach to providing access to the arts for people with disabilities. It provided a much needed opportunity for people with disabilities to make their input to the Minister's Department and outline the difficulties they were experiencing in accessing the arts and cultural sector in Ireland. Since the plan expired, we have not seen any effort being made to replace it, despite the fact that people with disabilities continue to experience huge challenges in accessing the arts and culture sector. I speak of both artists and audiences with disabilities; there are two strands to the issue. In Ireland there is a very low level of participation by children with special educational needs in structured cultural activities. This does not only affect children and young people, as many adults with disabilities report frustration and difficulties in accessing the arts.

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