Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While we are here again this evening, I acknowledge that families are bereaved and family members are suffering. We again thank our healthcare workers who are doing so much during these very difficult times.

When we talk of the arts in Ireland, we are speaking of some of the central foundations of our culture, our Irishness, and the historic and contemporary creative spirit that has fuelled our Celtic identity and moulded the diverse society that is Ireland in 2020. For many years, our country has strode the world stage in theatre, drama, dance, film and music. Our literary contributions are without international peer. Our cities and regional landscapes boast historical and modern architecture of cultural significance, design and ingenuity. Our rich visual arts heritage, traditional arts, street arts and spectacles we have developed in recent years have placed Ireland as a must-visit destination, which is exemplified by attracting 11.2 million visitors to these shores in 2019.

How do we value this rich tapestry of lived experience and economic benefit in these present and challenging times? We are facing into unparalleled economic upheaval. The fallout of Covid-19 and the future implications of dealing with the requirements of social distancing have made the resumption of normal activity impossible for many of our traditional artists, performers and artistic promoters.

For many in the artistic community, finances can be precarious at the best of times. It is no exaggeration to state that for many people involved in the arts, personal and community finances are now perched on a knife-edge. Our theatres and indoor and outdoor venues have been closed since March. The majority of artistic community income has stopped completely without an answer as to how it can return. How is it possible to produce new theatre and drama work in this new reality of social distancing? In 2019, the Abbey Theatre in Dublin scheduled 30 different productions to a nightly audience of 500 people. The new live audience restriction with social distancing requirements is 52. How can arts centres open their doors to an available 10% of their previous footfall while continuing to pay 100% of their previous operating costs?

The National Campaign for the Arts has stated that an additional €20 million is needed for venues and artists to survive. I applaud the council for swiftly releasing virtually all available 2020 funding to artists and art organisations. What about next year, however, when even more funding will be needed? What priority will the Government place on supporting the arts in any future recovery plan? Where and in what quantity will funding for the arts be provided in this new reality? For indoor and outdoor venues, where social distancing must be observed, what innovations can be encouraged and developed? What supports can be provided to ensure not alone that must the show go on, but that it can do so viably and into the future?

The priority, scale and support the Government demonstrates to secure our future arts sector will signal whether our economic drivers are actively engaged or are absent or asleep at the wheel. Perhaps our thought leaders might reflect on the activity of the German Government, which recently announced a sweeping aid package for that country's creative and cultural sectors. The German culture minister, Monika Grütters, was quoted as saying "we know the hardships, we know the desperation". She continued by stating the German Government knew the importance of the creative industries' sector and the problems with livelihood. She further stated that help was being provided and "that help is coming as quickly and with as little bureaucracy as possible". Can we also extend the lofty gaze of the Minister's Department and senior officials to such high ambitions?

I will reflect experience from my city of Waterford. Our Theatre Royal and our Garter Lane Arts Centre are to remain closed and will be unviable for many months, and possibly years, to come. For a generation in Waterford, there has not been an August bank holiday weekend - there has simply been the Spraoi weekend. This year Waterford will not rhyme and chime in August to the rhythms of the Spraoi international street arts festival. Instead, our 28 year old street festival has been stopped in its tracks. Honouring Government directives on large-scale outdoor events this summer, Spraoi organisers and our artists, musicians, volunteers, funders and partners have decided that staging Spraoi is neither feasible nor appropriate.

Like so many other national cultural events, however, Spraoi remains committed to its artists and its audience. Our national artists have served this State well. They give voice to our spirits as a nation and develop our culture. In so doing, for those reasons in particular, they have helped to develop a vibrant tourist economy. The artists in my city and county are everyday people who enliven our lives and our souls with the gift of music, imagery, dance, storytelling and entertainment and in so doing provide to our region an economic engine.

Spraoi's passion for the people, the streets, the squares, the lanes and the quays of Waterford remains undented. The company is purposeful and currently active in exploring ways to return, with an adapted experience in September and with the resilience to ignite support in local communities. Like many other artistic endeavours, the Spraoi festival will require funding - not token funding as an act of charity but rather strategic funding advanced as a pragmatic investment in Ireland, in the hearts and minds of our people, and in the future economic recovery of our regions.

Covid-19 is causing our artistic sectors to face into a period of intense introspection but the questions being asked are largely commercial in nature. We may have a formula to estimate the economic value of our arts and cultural heritage in Ireland, but how do we measure the intrinsic value of the arts to our society and what funding mechanism can be put in place to see it fairly supported? This is my overarching question. What value and what future supports will the Department provide for the cultural and artistic sectors in Ireland? What funding parameters will be put in place to secure jobs and expertise in artistic imagination and expression? Given the recent announcements of capital required as called for in the small business recovery plan, the local jobs alliance report and the IBEC Reboot and Reimagine report, a figure of €15 billion has been identified as the funding requirement to refloat our national economy in the coming months. It would appear the arts and cultural portfolio will require significant and additional resourcing from such investment this year and for years to come. I am joined by many in our arts and cultural communities and in our wider tourism sector who sincerely hope this significant economic driver will receive now the immediate support it needs to problem-solve, innovate, adapt and survive. Many of us await a comprehensive and extensive investment plan from the Department and the Government. We hope to see the sector secured so that it can thrive into the future. We hope, too, that the breadth of ambition to be deployed in the Department is adequate to the challenge awaiting.

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