Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate what the Minister said. I and, more importantly, people in the sector have campaigned for this for a long time because income and employment insecurity is rampant. While I welcome this measure, let us not sit back on our laurels and act as if this is a panacea. We should remember that the background to this, which I acknowledge predates the Minister's tenure, is that we see spend six times less on the arts and culture sector, as a proportion of our GDP, than most countries in Europe. It also does not help for us to sell off infrastructure that we helped to pay for in the first place. Imagine if the Abbey Theatre was flogged off and people had to apply for a job each time there was a play on. The backdrop to this is that we need more income and employment security in general and more funding to create that security in the film, art and music sectors. It is important that everyone be eligible for this pilot scheme.

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