Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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8. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if the Government is committed to increasing the budget for the arts to at least the European Union average of 0.6% of gross domestic product; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31142/16]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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Deputy Humphreys is the Minister with responsibility for the arts and she is the Minister who has cut the arts budget in terms of €188.5 million last year and €158.3 million last week, which is a cut of 16%. How does she account for herself? Let us not have any excuses about the 1916 centenary celebrations. The budget was cut, this Minister cut it and I ask her to account for it.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be glad to hear that in budget 2017, I secured a series of funding increases across the arts and cultural bodies under my remit. These include an extra €5 million for the Arts Council, which is an 8% increase; €2 million extra for the film board; an extra €1 million for Culture Ireland; a significant additional allocation of €3.5 million for the national cultural institutions; and a new funding stream of €5 million for the implementation of a Culture 2025-Ireland 2016 legacy programme, details of which I will be announcing shortly.

These increases will have a positive and distinct impact on arts provision around the country. I am particularly pleased that I have retained the majority of the once-off current funding provided in 2016 for commemorations for investment in arts and culture and that these amounts are now included in my Department’s baseline figures.

I understand that the source of the reference to 0.6% of GDP in the Deputy's question is a Council of Europe research project and that many European countries, including ten EU member states, are not included in the data. I understand also that the data are not standardised and are not comparable across countries. For example, local authority expenditure on the arts, the artists’ exemption tax relief, expenditure on public service broadcasting and the Irish language are not included in the figures for Ireland but comparable figures are included in the data for some other countries.

I have previously stated that further research on this issue is warranted and my Department is considering the matter at present. The issue of a definition of culture and of capturing public expenditure on culture is an element of the draft Culture 2025 framework policy, which was forwarded to the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs for input in July last.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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I am blinded by the spin.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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There is no spin.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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I am absolutely blinded by the spin. Let us have a look at it. The Minister secured an extra €5 million for the Arts Council. Is she aware the Arts Council received €83 million in 2007 but this year is receiving €65 million, a cut of more than 20%? Is she aware it is only now at the level it was six years ago in 2011? She said the majority of the 1916 money had been retained. That is not correct. There was €48 million in that regard and only €18 million of it - only slightly more than a third - was retained. That is misinformation. The National Campaign for the Arts asked that all that money be retained for the arts sector. The Minister completely failed to deliver on that. I will make a point on the statistics in a moment.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I want to be very clear because these figures can become confusing. There was almost €49 million in once-off funding allocated to my Department for the Ireland 2016 centenary programme this year. It was a once in a century event. The majority of that funding, €31 million, was spent on major capital projects such as the GPO visitors' centre, which is a fine centre that I hope the Deputy gets a chance to visit; Richmond Barracks; and the Kevin Barry rooms in the National Concert Hall. They are all finished now. They are tremendous legacy projects of 2016. They are now complete and therefore that capital funding is not included in next year's budget because they are finished. We do not have to do them again.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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As I said, it is spin.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The remainder of the commemoration funding, €18 million, was in current funding to fund initiatives such as the major parade on Easter Sunday and events across the country. I have retained the vast majority of that funding for 2017 and I am reinvesting it back into the Arts Council, the Irish Film Board and cultural institutions. I gave the Deputy a breakdown earlier.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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Jo Mangan from the National Campaign for the Arts said "There is strong disappointment coming from members" with regard to the budget. She said that her members' responses on social media were despair, anger and disbelief. That contrasts with the self-satisfied tone that emanates from the Minister in the House today. I am glad the Minister has accepted that the point I made about the 1916 money is correct. By her own mouth, the Minister has admitted in the House that there was €49 million last year and she secured €18 million of the €49 million.

Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Most of them have been opened.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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They are finished. They are all finished.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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It is spin. It is not the majority of the money; it is a tiny minority.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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No.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy, without interruption.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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By the Minister's own comments-----

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is out of time.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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The Minister is condemned by her own comments. The Minister hides behind the fact that her Department has not yet produced a system for calculating the amount of GDP spent on the arts. The European average is 0.6% but it is 0.1% here. If the Minister wants to challenge that figure, she should produce statistics. We are waiting. When will we get them?

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be glad to hear that under Culture 2025 it is something we have highlighted. I accept we need to do some work on the statistics.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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The Minister does, indeed.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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It is something that is ongoing. We will do it because it is important we know how much funding is needed. I am delighted I was able to increase the funding to the arts. Guess what? The Arts Council, the Irish Film Board and Culture Ireland were also delighted. They are all happy they got an increase. I would love to give them more but we have managed to do very well this year. Will the Deputy please acknowledge it is an increase? He should remember where we were in 2008. Things have improved a lot. We have come through an economic crisis and there have been cuts across the board. I am very pleased and I want to build on the increases I got this year. We can see the huge benefit there is in investing in the arts.