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

The Minister has spoken a number of times today about the Arts Council being happy with its budget. In an interview on the day of the budget, the new chairman of the Arts Council, Professor Kevin Rafter, expressed the hope that funding for the arts would increase by 10%. He must have been bitterly disappointed. Research carried out earlier this year by Theatre Forum, members of which attended a meeting in Leinster House recently, on pay and conditions for performing artists showed that one third of artists earn less than the minimum wage, and that working in the performing arts is characterised by poor working conditions and precarious employment. People in the sector have no healthcare, job security, childcare, maternity leave or pension. The Minister has to do something for them.

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