Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Along with others, I congratulate the Minister of State on her recent wedding and wish her every success. I appreciate her being here to take this debate this evening.

We are talking about the role of amateur theatre and musicals right around the State in all of our constituencies. In terms of the numbers who are actually involved in amateur theatre and musicals, it is estimated that after the GAA, it is the largest voluntary movement in the country. Think of the people who are involved, both onstage and behind the scenes in our theatres, providing those productions and the audiences right around the country for whom they provide great enjoyment, but also the role of amateur theatre in challenging us and making us think as well as entertaining us.

Even though a lot of these productions are amateur, the Minister of State will be very much aware that the quality is professional. In order to attain that, it costs a lot of money. A lot of these groups spend a lot of time fundraising to be able to put on those productions.

Their national representative bodies, the Drama League of Ireland, the Amateur Drama Council of Ireland, and the Association of Irish Musical Societies, which run festivals and try to ensure standards and provide training programmes, essentially do not receive any form of State support. While some support was provided during Covid - we all know about the impact on the arts then - we have not seen a structured way of funding and supporting these organisations, so that they can both manage their activity at a national level but also help with development, training and education costs.

The Oireachtas committee on the arts, of which I was a member in the previous Oireachtas as well as in this one, recommended clearly that a funding stream would be put in place. This is not covered at the moment by the Arts Council, although when the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, appeared before the Oireachtas committee recently, he did indicate that this may be a channel for so doing it. Given the importance of all of these groups in helping to build our communities, we should have some way of channelling funding to support their management and administration at national level but also their development at local level.

When I look at what happens with sporting organisations – the Minister of State is aware that I am very supportive of how we support sport – national governing bodies in sport receive funding through Sport Ireland to support the administration of the organisation but also for development and engagement and to build activity within the sport. We do not have the same level of commitment in the arts. The Minister of State knows how important the arts, theatre and musical groups are in building communities and we must consider a structured system of support for all of those organisations.

Within my constituency, we are very fortunate to have three very active musical societies in the Gorey Musical Society, the Carnew Musical Society and the Avonmore Musical Society in Arklow. We have wonderful theatre groups the length and breadth of the constituency. I will not start to name them because there is a danger that I will forget some. They run from Tinahely to Kilmuckridge. I have been very involved with the Gorey Little Theatre group. We all know the difference these groups make within our communities but, given the growing costs and challenges, we must support their development. The State does need to step in and provide resourcing.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy very much for raising this issue. The Government places great value on culture and the arts sector. As outlined in the programme for Government, we recognise that they are essential to a well-rounded society, providing opportunities for education, expression and community engagement. Deputy Byrne gave a very interesting statistic, for the want of a better word, when he said that, after the GAA, this is the largest voluntary movement in Ireland. It is fantastic to have that said and acknowledged here on the floor of the Dáil. I thank everybody who volunteers their time, talents and efforts for that cause. I know Deputy Byrne does a lot of that himself, and I acknowledge that too.

Under the Arts Act 2003, the Arts Council has primary responsibility for the development of the arts in Ireland and budget 2025 provided record funding of €140 million for the Arts Council. I appreciate what the Deputy says, which is that funding needs to be channelled through a structured stream to the groups that support, govern and develop the arts, namely, the groups on the ground. Notwithstanding that, the Arts Council recognises the value and the distinctive role amateur arts practice plays, its important contribution to the vitality of the arts in Ireland, and its many societal benefits. I know Deputy Byrne is an active member of his local theatre group, and he commended and complimented the groups that are active on the ground in his area. They are an example of the non-commercial, professional theatre production that happens in Ireland. We want to support artistic excellence in the standard of practice and level of ambition.

The Arts Council invests funding in a range of art forms and developmental projects, including Creative Schools, Creative Places, Creative Europe and Culture Night. As we all know, Culture Night takes place this Friday. One example of what will happen is that, in collaboration with RTÉ, opportunities are being created for artists at all levels. Details of all these programmes are available on the Arts Council's website. I encourage everyone to enjoy Culture Night this Friday. In its most recently published music policy, Advancing Music: Music Policy and Strategy, the Arts Council's music, opera and theatre teams are working together on the development of a new approach for the support of music theatre and musical theatre artists and organisations. Additionally, a network of cultural infrastructure exists throughout the country with the majority in the ownership of local authorities. Annual support, including programming and revenue supports, is provided to these arts centres by local authorities and the Arts Council. The Department provides capital grant funding to assist development and to maintain these arts and cultural facilities. These arts centres are where amateur and professional artists and audiences meet and this is a key part of the Arts Council's strategy of investing in public engagement.

Within the Department of culture, there are a number of measures in place to support the arts at amateur and professional levels. They include annual funding for Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann; the music capital scheme, which provides funding for the purchase of musical instruments; the small-scale local festivals and summer schools scheme designed to support local cultural festivals and summer schools; and Creative Ireland programme funding to support a wide range of creative projects nationally.

Notwithstanding the existing supports, I am sure the Deputy is aware of the intention of the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, to widen the range of art forms and organisations supported by the Arts Council, something the Deputy himself recommended in the committee. That is particular to community and other groups. The Deputy will also be aware of the ongoing review by the expert review group, which is under way and is being chaired by Professor Niamh Brennan. The Minister looks forward, as I am sure does the Deputy, to receiving that report and to any recommendations she makes when the review is completed before considering the next steps in regard to the Arts Council.

The Minister asked me to assure the Deputy that he has reviewed the Oireachtas committee's report, The Development of Local and Community Arts, published in July 2024.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The Minister of State should conclude.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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One of the key recommendations is to develop an arts capital and equipment programme for investment in local and community arts of a similar scale and structure as its sports capital and equipment programme. As part of that, we will look at the feasibility of a minor capital works scheme under the Arts Council.

Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State very much. Like her, I encourage everybody to get involved in Culture Night. Many of the activities in Culture Night will be led by people who are involved in local community theatre groups and musical societies right around the country. There has been an enormous and very welcome commitment to significant increased funding for the Arts Council, and the introduction of a basic income scheme for artists, as well as a number of measures the Minister of State mentioned, but none of them are of benefit to the amateur musical theatre or amateur drama sector in Ireland.

The Brennan review into the Arts Council is a little bit more about governance. We need to look at the structured funding schemes for the arts in the same way as sport when it comes to building communities. This Government is very clearly doing it for sport but we need to put the arts on a level playing field. There is a very clear commitment in programme for Government to the arts capital programme but the maximum sum in the scheme E capital programme for an arts centre is €50,000, which is minimal for a capital programme when we compare it with the sports capital programme that I also strongly support. I was at a sports club this evening where incredible investment is happening, which is right, but we must do the same with arts venues around the country. We need a dedicated funding stream to support amateur theatre and musical groups because of the number of people involved. The Minister of State knows that people involved in drama groups and musical societies around the country love it and have a passion for it but there are costs involved and we must put a funding stream in place to support them.

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Byrne for raising this important matter. It is timely that we are discussing it a couple of days in advance of Culture Night. I also thank the Deputy for his obvious passion for this subject matter and the active role he plays in the amateur arts world in his community.

Ireland is renowned for producing world-class art, both amateur and professional. That is why it is this Government's ambition that we continue to do that into the future. The Government places significant value on culture and the arts sector. That is why it is distinctly called out in the programme for Government. We recognised in the programme for Government that they are essential to a well-rounded society, providing opportunities for education, expression and community engagement. I hope we will achieve that over the lifetime of this Government. I will pass on the Deputy's specific ideas and feedback to the Minister and ask him to consider how those can be used to better support arts organisations.

We have spoken about professional artists, about local dramatic societies and about the really amazing work that groups like Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann undertake up and down the country. I take this opportunity to thank everybody involved in Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann which I believe took place in Deputy Byrne's neighbouring constituency and in the Ceann Comhairle's constituency. I commend everybody involved in that. It was absolutely terrific. I was lucky enough to spend two nights there. It was an amazing showcase of the talent, both amateur and professional, that Ireland offers. That is something the Government is committed to supporting. As I have stated, the Government has committed to examining the feasibility of minor capital works grants schemes to support arts and culture facilities that are not supported through the Arts Council. I will take Deputy Byrne's feedback in relation to that cap on board and present it to the Minister. These plans are, of course, resource dependent, as is everything, and as we are getting towards the crunch when it comes to budget negotiations this year, I expect this to be discussed there.