Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire agus roimh na cuairteorí ins an gailearaí.
It is a shame that the artist is not at the centre of the debate because that is the way it should be. A country that does not know its history or that is not familiar with the people and events that shaped its collective memory is akin to a stranger who, having no idea where she has come from, is unable to find her way forward. The sorry fact is that Ireland's key cultural institutions are in a state of neglect and in disarray owing to a shocking lack of public funding. In a nutshell, this amounts to Government-inflicted death by a thousand cuts. Year after year, budget after budget, the Government has cut funding to the arts sector and the key cultural institutions which have had their boards disbanded and their independence seriously compromised, while the staff, mostly members of SIPTU, who work in them have seen their conditions of employment deteriorate. When it comes to funding and supports for our key cultural institutions, the Government's record is abysmal. For example, in 2008 the National Library of Ireland and the National Museum of Ireland received €30.8 million in public funding between them, but last year they only received €17.9 million. As is so often noted, there is a madness in starving these institutions to the point of unsustainability at the very same time as public interest in what they are doing is booming.
Unfortunately, when it comes to funding for our artists, the story is no better. In that context, I received a message this morning from an artist friend of mine, who has had to move to London. He writes:

People in Ireland only take the arts seriously when calculating its contribution in attracting large multinationals to towns like Galway. We run arts festivals where no money goes to local artists and the Government funding decision on them depends on how many hotel beds they fill. Who are they working for and who is standing up for citizen artist? I was forced to move to London to have a viable career. It makes me very sad. Now England benefits from all of my experience, not Ireland. Ireland is only for trainees it seems. Shameful.

I acknowledge that the Government has supported the restoration of Richmond Barracks and Kilmainham Court House. However, when we look at Kilmainham Gaol, the second most visited tourist site in the country, we see yet another lost opportunity owing to lack of vision and funding. It is now almost impossible for a member of the public to gain access to the gaol during the summer months because almost all of the tours are pre-booked by touring companies. This means that schools, community groups and even returning emigrants are highly unlikely to gain access. Right across Europe important institutions remain open into the early hours of the morning and midnight tours are common practice. Unfortunately, most of our public cultural institutions are beset by a failure to capitalise on their huge tourist potential.
On the McNulty debacle, the biggest insult was to artists, the many highly qualified people who could have been appointed to the board of IMMA. A number of artists have contacted me today and requested that I make some points on their behalf in the House tonight. One artist is actually critical of the many artists who are no longer engaged in politics. He argues that they are not critiquing politicians in a way that would have been done in the past. I note that Robert Ballagh derided the lack of revolutionaries, political thinkers and activists in the arts sector. Artists have told me that they feel they are not listened to or respected in the way that they once were, as the satirist and the voice of reason. They believe the value of the arts has been overly commodified and that the art colleges are becoming too middle class and too accepting of the status quo. That is an issue on which we could deliberate further at a later date. The arts community was highly insulted by the way in which the recent appointments were made to the board of IMMA. Artists argue that Ireland has huge creative capital which must be supported but that there is the lack of an acknowledgment of the arts as a sector in itself and the artist as the creator of cultural capital. Although I support the idea of artists working in the educational sphere, I do not think it should be a condition of their receiving a grant that they have to teach in a school. We should recognise them as artists and what they do as important in its own right. The State as a patron in controlling the arts is an issue for many artists. They argue that when they receive a grant from the State, they are made to feel they must do things in a certain way.
I must note the cruel irony in the Private Members' motion. Asking the Government to provide details of its plans to commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Rising is absolutely legitimate. However, we should not forget that it was as a result of Fianna Fáil corruption, wheeling and dealing that the country's most significant historical site in the context of the 1916 Rising and the foundation of the State will shortly be turned into a parking lot and shopping arcade.