Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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2. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to the recommendations of an organisation (details supplied) in its pre-budget 2022 submission; the recommendations from the submission she would support; the recommendations that are deliverable within the term of Thirty-third Dáil; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47786/21]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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The National Campaign for the Arts, NCFA, has put together quite a substantial document which it is hoping the Minister will consider in the budgetary process. I am interested in hearing the Minister's reflections on that budgetary submission and her vision for the future of the arts which, as she will appreciate, has gone through a hellish 20 months.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that the organisation to which he refers has sent copies of its pre-budget submission for 2022 to me and to my officials. I am familiar with the recommendations made by the organisation. Budget 2022 will be announced on 12 October 2021.

A number of the recommendations listed in the pre-budget submission that come within the remit of my Department are also contained in the arts and culture recovery task force report, Life Worth Living, published in November 2020, which outlined a vision for the arts and culture sector which I firmly support. The recommendations included a proposal to pilot a basic income scheme for a three-year period in the arts, culture, audiovisual, live performance and events sectors. Other recommendations relate to increased funding to existing programmes and agencies.

As part of the Economic Recovery Plan launched on 1 June 2021, the Government committed to bringing forward a proposal in response to the task force recommendation for a basic guaranteed income pilot scheme for artists. I established an oversight group with the remit of addressing the outstanding recommendations of the Life Worth Living report. The oversight group was asked to prioritise the manner in which a basic guaranteed income pilot scheme for artists could be delivered, and I am currently considering the optimal mechanism to take this important measure forward.

As the Deputy will be aware, the programme for Government committed to continue to reform and improve the budgetary process to enhance Ireland’s budgetary framework. The budgetary reforms introduced in recent years, including performance budgeting and equality budgeting, are focused on providing the evidence base to support the efficient and effective delivery of services that have a positive impact on people's lives. This work is being further enhanced with the development of the well-being framework for Ireland.

As we emerge from the pandemic, I am committed to supporting the long-term sustainability of the arts and culture sectors, and that remains my focus during the ongoing budget negotiations. We have a unique opportunity to achieve such sustainability in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The arts have been and continue to be among the most negatively impacted sectors, and in this context I am focused on the recovery and future of the culture sector. I can inform the Deputy that both I and my Department's officials meet regularly with representatives of the organisation to which he refers, and I am meeting them tomorrow to discuss these exact matters.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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I am delighted to hear that and know they will impress on the Minister the stark findings contained in their report. The latest analysis indicates that two thirds of workers in the sector are earning less than €20,000 per year, 60% of artists and arts workers have neither health insurance nor private pensions, and 74% of performing artists and creative practitioners are reliant on another source of income. The Arts Council reports that 48% of professional artists have considered abandoning their career in the arts over the past year, with lack of income and financial pressures being cited by 70% of them as the main reason.

Another stark finding which I am sure the Minister will be discussing tomorrow is that, a decade on from the financial crisis, Government investment in the bodies that underwrite the artistic output of the nation, including the Arts Council, Culture Ireland, Creative Ireland and others, has barely recovered. Ireland continues to languish on the bottom rung in terms of investment in culture in Europe. When does the Minister envisage we can move on from the firefighting and the recovery from disaster of the past 20 months and reach the level of funding that used to be in place prior to the economic crash of ten years ago?

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I acknowledge it has been an incredibly tough time for all those who work in the arts and culture sector. Effectively, they have been unable to do what they do best, to do what they love and to earn a living. The Deputy may argue that they languish on the bottom rung, but the fact I secured a commitment from Government for a basic guaranteed income pilot scheme, which was the number one recommendation of the arts recovery task force, shows my commitment as Minister with responsibility for arts and culture. I have a vision and I understand that, by its very nature, work in this sector means there are lull periods when artists need to create, and the pilot scheme is a recognition of that. I would also point out that in 2021 I allocated a record €130 million to the Arts Council to provide for the sector. The council is the agency through which Government support for the arts sector is delivered. Building on this record allocation, increased funding for the Arts Council will be considered in the context of the budget Estimates, and negotiations are ongoing in that regard.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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I appreciate what the Minister is saying, but the NCFA document argues that it could take until 2024 to recover from the past 20 months in what is already a particularly precarious sector. I am seeking a commitment from the Minister not just to deal with what has happened in the past year and a half but to deal with the long-term situation. It is a source of frustration to the arts community that whenever Ireland is marketed abroad as a tourist destination, the icons put forward from our history are always from the arts community - the poets, musicians and dancers - but funding for the arts has been especially weak.

Yes, the Minister has been engaging with the National Campaign for the Arts and that is to her credit, and she is meeting its representatives tomorrow, but it is not just about recovering from the past 20 months. It is about the underlying under-funding issues that have always been prevalent, and a vision to restore that into the future.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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There is where we are in absolute agreement. On numerous occasions in just over a year since becoming Minister, I have pointed out that my focus is not only on sustaining artists during this very difficult time. We are a nation which talks so much about valuing the arts and now is the time for us to put our money where our mouth is. If there was one lesson to be learned during the pandemic of the past 18 months, it was how the arts go to the very core of our being as a nation and I deeply value that. It will not just be words from me. That is why I fought to get that commitment in the basic income guarantee pilot because it is about the vision for beyond Covid and beyond the supports that I am putting in place. I am absolutely determined to support them beyond Covid. That is where my focus is.