Seanad debates

Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Arts and Culture Sector: Motion

 

3:40 pm

Photo of Fiach MacConghailFiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. As she has had a tough start, I will not get involved in the party politics of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. She is listening and, in that spirit, I have some constructive criticisms and arguments to make about what has been mentioned. She should take it in the spirit it is intended in the sense that we are all trying to move forward. I will deal with the minutiae of why I disagree with her, but the criticism is meant to be constructive.

I also commend the Government for not proposing an amendment to the motion. That is significant because in the past politics were played with amendments to motions. I, therefore, commend the Leader for not tabling an amendment to the motion.

I acknowledge the artists, arts workers and the members of the national campaign for the arts in the Visitors Gallery. As we have a packed Visitors Gallery, there is engagement, interest, passion and ownership, which is required for the support of the arts, particularly in raising money.

I should state the obvious that I am the director of the Abbey Theatre, Ireland's national theatre, which receives State funding through the Arts Council. As director of the Abbey Theatre, I sit on the Council of National Cultural Institutions which is in place to support the dissemination of the programmes of the National Museum of Ireland, the National Library of Ireland, the Chester Beatty Library, the National Concert Hall, the National Archives, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Crawford Gallery, the National Gallery of Ireland and the Arts Council.

I am proud and honoured that the Taoiseach decided to nominate me as a Senator and I have done my best to be useful, supportive and responsible in my role. However, it can be fairly summarised that the coalition Government has treated the arts and culture community, at local and national level, shabbily and with disrespect and arrogance. Since the coalition Government took power, it has wielded the sword of Damocles over nearly all of the national cultural institutions in a two pronged attack, if the metaphor can be extended.

On one side, it has savagely cut budgets, as the Minister knows, but it has accepted a disproportionate cut in funding over any other Department. We need the Minister to restore the confidence of artists in art organisations by looking to stop these cuts and seek an increase. In that regard, I welcome the Minister's statement. Any support we can give her in order to motivate the Ministers, Deputy Howlin and Deputy Noonan, to increase the funding, we will give.

The figures illustrate the situation clearly. The combined funding for national cultural institutions, which was €156.7 million in 2008, was €98.2 million in 2014, which constitutes a drop of 37.4% across the sector. The total expenditure across all Government Departments and bodies, which was €61.9 billion in 2008, was €52.9 billion in 2014, which constitutes a drop of only 14.5%. Therefore, there has been a savage and disproportionate cut. Why is the arts getting such a disproportionate and savage cut? I believe the Minister now has the wind behind her and has the support of the Seanad to try to advocate for the rights of citizens, nationally and locally, to have a full experience and full access to the arts. That can only be done through increased funding.

I have no doubt the National Library, the National Gallery, the National Museum and many other arts organisations are under severe pressure to keep their doors open. In fact, I can imagine the doors are about to close on some of those. Certainly, outreach and education programmes and community programmes are being cut. The savage cuts need to stop but the sword is still swinging on what I would call this tsunami of destruction with regard to the legislation and the amalgamations, which cause great anxiety, uncertainty and strain. This is the second part of the two-pronged approach.

The Minister mentioned that she wanted to dispel the notion there is any intention to undermine the independence of our national cultural institutions and she spoke about the intention to copperfasten the legal position of each of the cultural institutions. However, the National Cultural Institutions Act 1997 does just that. Both the museum and the library have a separate board, so I do not understand why those two boards have to step down. I agree that shared services are important and that the public service reform plan regarding savings has to be a priority, but it needs an arm's-length principle. The only way that arm's-length principle can be protected is if there is a statutory board to make sure the governance is sorted. There is no reason the National Library board, the National Museum board, the National Gallery board or the Irish Museum of Modern Art board cannot protect and continue that arm's-length principle.

The Minister recently introduced, under pre-legislative scrutiny, the National Concert Hall Bill. While I know it is only the pre-legislative stage and I know the Minister is listening, she is certainly proposing that she would have a wide range of powers in directing policy. Clearly, the words "arm's-length principle" and protection around directing policy are needed. None the less, I know the Minister is listening in that regard.

In June, the Government announced Culture 2025, which will be the first comprehensive cultural policy to emerge from Government in several decades. I welcome that, as I know the National Campaign for the Arts and the arts committee welcome it. As stated by the Government, it is an opportune time for a fundamental review of Ireland's cultural policy. I urge the Minister to put a steering committee in place and I understand from her speech that she is about to announce a draft paper shortly. I believe the momentum is there to deliver a national cultural policy by Easter 2016. Before then, the Minister will spend her time listening to individual artists and arts organisations, looking to see if there is a different way of doing that. What I would love her to do in that time is to suspend all governance and legislative changes currently under consideration which have an impact on the governance and independence of the national cultural institutions. They should be suspended until the framework of a national cultural policy - Culture 25 - is in place. That is the right order - the horse before the cart rather than the cart before the horse is what we are looking for.

To recap, first, the national cultural policy should be the primary purpose of national policy and the Minister's legacy will be to set that policy in stone. Second, we are here to support stopping the cuts and increasing support for the Arts Council and other national cultural institutions, so the Minister's vision can be implemented over the next couple of years.

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