Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As a young person I listened with interest to the issues concerning people in my age group today, one in six of whom have left Ireland and many more of whom remain on social welfare payments. Today with the changes to the jobseeker's rate the Government continued a policy of age discrimination, which is a shameful indictment of this Government's attitude to our young people. Young people aged between 18 and 24 will see an increase of €2.70. Cheers for that. It will go a long way for those between 18 and 24. It will increase their payment to €102. Separately, 25 year olds will receive an increase of €3.80, from €144 to €147. Why, as our economy recovers, are young jobseekers still facing discrimination on the basis of age? Rather than nominal increases, all of our citizens seeking jobs deserve the standard jobseeker's allowance rate. Instead, young jobseekers continue to struggle to make ends meet with insufficient supports for living expenses and no support for seeking work. If the Government places such a value on young jobseekers, what message does that send to the private sector and to those employing our young people? Young people under the age of 26 should be entitled to equal payment.

Cultural activists have, since the beginning of this Government's term, tried to make their voices heard as they called for decency, fairness and acknowledgement from policy makers. These are the voices of artists struggling to make ends meet, most of whom earn less than €10,000 per year. Artists, like the majority of our society, deserve a break. They want the cost of living to be reduced. They are crippled by water charges, the property tax, child care costs and a broken health system.Sinn Féin has called for called for and budgeted for increased investment in public services, fair taxation and a reduction in the cost of living. No citizen can go about their day without availing of public services. No citizen can go about their day without experiencing and engaging with the arts. The arts have a transformative effect on the individual and society and I often wonder why the Government does not acknowledge that effect. Is it because the Government knows that artists critique society and social norms? Is it because the Government knows that a resourced artist threatens the establishment? Does it know that the arts have an incredible ability to empower citizens to mobilise for progressive change? Maybe it is none of the above. Maybe the Government will not acknowledge the power of the arts because those making policy have never experienced the transformative effect for themselves. It is common sense to invest in public services. It is common sense to invest in society. It is common sense to invest in our cultural landscape because when we do invest in the arts, we benefit the economy, tourism sector and the health of society and communities.

Hidden at the back of today's budget book, in budget 2017, are cuts of €30 million to the programme area of arts, culture and film. That amounts to cultural vandalism. No citizen can go about their day without experiencing the arts. Instead, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have moved to shrink the tax base ignorant of the need for a fair economy and just society, and one in which public investment delivers for Ireland's future. Despite the need for capital investment, budget 2017 significantly reduces capital spend by more than €34 million when programme areas of the arts, culture and film, as well Irish language, the Gaeltacht and islands are combined. That reduction in capital spend could have been used to support growth and animation in the film industry. The funding could have addressed regional imbalance among cultural institutions, thus truly recognising their mandate as national. It could have supported works and preservations at museums, galleries, libraries and institutions. It could have offered artists the security of tenure in urban areas via State support for spaces.

Budget 2017 proves that its authors in Fine Gael treat the arts community with contempt and disdain and are oblivious to the benefits that investment in the arts can bring to society, the economy and our tourism offering.