Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I had not heard that the Minister was not going to appear in the Chamber. I am disappointed that she is not present as she is the Minister with responsibility for culture and this matter was very much directed at her. I will wait to hear what the Minister of State, Deputy Paul Kehoe, has to say on her behalf, but this is most unsatisfactory. With no disrespect to him, had I been advised of this information, I would not have accepted this arrangement.

I wish to ask Deputy Heather Humphreys as the Minister with responsibility for culture whether she agrees that orchestras, in particular, the two RTÉ orchestras, the national symphony and concert orchestras which were founded in 1948, are an intrinsic part of our culture? Does she agree that music is an intrinsic part of our culture? It is something for which we are known and celebrated throughout the world, yet we seem to be on a slow march towards dismantling the numbers of employees working with the orchestras and possibly doing away with one of them entirely.

The Minister has not come into the House to take this matter, but I want to ask her as the Minister with responsibility for culture and a successor to a former Minister, Michael D. Higgins, now President, who established the first Department of Culture, what her vision or fís is for orchestras in the playing of music in this country? Are we on the road to almost having a plot that one might see in an opera in which music, particularly classical and orchestral music in RTÉ, will be killed in a death by a thousand cuts? Already RTÉ is 30 professional musicians short and by next year, it may be 40 short.

I am not aware that in its history Fine Gael has been particularly committed to culture, but this is shocking. When Creative Ireland was established during the centenary commemorations, as the then Tánaiste, I strongly supported widening the investment in culture to rebuild the national cultural institutions, including the National Concert Hall, yet we have an important short debate taking place on the matter today and the Fine Gael-led Government has not been able to send the Minister into the House to take it.

See this speech in context