Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the progress being made, especially on the new schemes delivered or being delivered by Dublin City Council's space to create scheme, as well as the Arts Council's visual artists workspace scheme. Artists across the country, however, continue to struggle to secure a space in which to rehearse, work, create, perform or exhibit. Rising rents and overdependence on private operators are often locking struggling artists out of spaces in which to create their work, perform or display their works.

The agent of change initiative would take existing cultural spaces into account when new building works are taking place. This is a time a huge number of new developments seem to be happening and squeezing out art spaces. In response to a parliamentary question I asked in June 2022, the Minister said the Department was leading on this matter, but four years later she seems to be saying the opposite.

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