Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Today I want to highlight the achievement of a Carlow woman, Ms Cathy Reddy, who was selected from more than 10,000 amateur, professional and hobby artists from across the UK, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, and the Republic of Ireland to take part in the television show, "Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year". The competition offers artists the chance to win a commission worth £10,000 for the permanent collection of a British institution and £5,000 worth of art materials. Ms Reddy is taking part in the competition this week and I wish her well. In her journey through this competition, however, she will receive no funding and will have no entitlements. She might be reimbursed for the costs of her trip when the competition is over. We do wonderful things in this country for established artists and there are great arts officers in many counties, including Carlow. When it comes to young people starting out, however, it is very hard. I am aware that grants are available to artists in various parts of the country but it is very difficult to qualify for same. Ms Reddy needs a grant now but I have been told that none is available. Ms Reddy, who I hope does very well in the aforementioned competition, did not ask me to raise this issue. I raise it today while also sending her my best wishes. I ask the Leader to organise a debate on how to support young artists to help them onto the world stage, as we often do for young sportspeople. It is important that when we have a uniquely talented artist like Ms Reddy, we support her and give more to people like her. I raise this in an effort to stimulate a debate on issues around artists' grants and so on.