Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I wish the Minister well in her new role and welcome her to the heart of Dublin's north inner city. I am not too sure about the auditorium we are in, but the location is spectacular. Given where we are located, I want to raise an issue that is locally relevant and nationally important and relates to the Estimates we are discussing. Like many places in Ireland, the north inner city is defined by its connection to the arts. If the Minister walks around the corner, she will see a statue of one of our greatest, Luke Kelly, which has undergone a bit of a hard time of late. It is spectacular in that location. We also have people who make their careers and live their lives through the arts, not in the performing arts but in the associated industries related to them.

According to the Estimates, the numbers of feature film projects receiving production funding from Screen Ireland are 40 this year, 39 last year and 43 in the previous year, which is very welcome. The film industry in Ireland is performing very well at the moment. Behind that film industry are the workers who make it happen. I am not talking about the actors, producers and directors, who are rightly acclaimed internationally. I am talking about workers such as carpenters, painters and set designers, many of whom live in the north inner city. I think there are 400 members of the Irish Film Workers Association. In recent years, they have asked for their plight, including unsafe and inappropriate conditions, to be raised. My colleague sitting to my right, Deputy Boyd Barrett, has been raising it for a long time. I ask the Minister to meet these professionals from the industry.

Last week, the Covid committee had a presentation from engineers and other people who make their living through the arts. It was really interesting to hear the plight they are facing. All they are asking is to be included. These people will not be able to apply for grants. I know departmental officials are meeting representatives from the Event Production Industry Covid-19 Working Group, EPIC. I ask the Minister to meet people from the Irish Film Workers Association. That is their only request at the moment.

I raise the issue of local authority funding as it pertains to the arts. In my previous role as a councillor on Dublin City Council I had the great honour of being chair of the arts and cultural strategic policy committee, SPC, for a very short time. While in that role I got to see the all-encompassing nature of the role the local authority plays in the arts. It brings the arts down into communities, helps with funding and provides funding for new artists coming through. It is innovative in the manner in which it does this and it is flexible. Local authorities' arts funding is a major way by which new communities can access funding that enables them to see their own reflection in our arts. Will that funding be protected? Is it possible for it to be enhanced?

I want to raise the issue of local authorities' discretionary funding. Discretionary funding, not covered in the Estimates, is usually how communities, often taking their first step into the arts and unable to fill out the forms, are able to access a small grant allowing them to put on a local production with local artists. That was been decimated in recent months, even before the Covid-19 crisis. I imagine it has become an even greater problem after the pandemic. I ask the Minister to pay particular attention to the local authorities' discretionary funding, which is a very important funding mechanism for artists.

I welcome the additional €25 million for the arts, with €20 million going to the Arts Council and a further €5 million still to be decided. Although it is welcome, we are starting from a very low level. We talk about the arts in Ireland all the time. Dublin Airport displays pictures of our artists. We use the arts to sell Ireland on a global stage. However, we have grotesquely underfunded the sector for decades despite taking advantage of it so much. That €25 million is welcome. However, that can be compared with the stimulus announced for the arts across the water in the UK, which has been extended into the billions. That meant the North of Ireland got €36.7 million for the arts there, despite having a smaller population and a smaller cohort of artists. While our artists and artistic community welcome the €25 million, although it is not enough, can we guarantee that it will be committed to for next year and possibly extended?

The artistic community feels vulnerable at the moment. What is keeping our artists and others in the artistic community alive and helping them feed themselves is the pandemic unemployment payment and the temporary wage subsidy scheme. These need to be continued for as long as our artistic community cannot access their workplace in the manner in which they previously could. Be it through the July stimulus or any other mechanism, I know the Minister will advocate strongly. I ask her to advocate to allow our artists to continue to be able to avail of the pandemic unemployment payment and the temporary wage subsidy scheme until they can return to their place of work.

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