Maria Byrne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to speak about this informative programme today. I compliment her and her officials in the Department on all the work they have done in regard to it to date.

No matter what walk of life we are in, respect and dignity in the workplace are something we all aspire to, but it is not always a given in every workplace. I welcome the creation of the website, which is informative, not only for individuals but for groups in terms of mentoring and the mental health aspect. There is legal advice and so much other information on the website that is good and is appreciated by artists. The life of an artist can be very lonely. Some artists work in isolation, while others work in groups or are engaged in the performing arts or the digital arts. There are many variations but the Minister has covered a lot of areas in the information that has provided initially on the website.

I also welcome the fact that roadshows are part of the programme. I note there will be two in the west and one in Dublin. It would have been nice to see one in the mid-west or the south as well. Perhaps the Minister could consider one of those areas for the next roadshow because there are a lot of artists' communities in the Munster region.

When the Minister spoke earlier, she referred to further research that will be carried out to ensure more inclusivity and to cover ethnicity, disability and sexuality. Further research is being conducted and a report will be forthcoming. When does the Minister envisage the report will be ready? I presume that will feed into the next phase of the roll-out of the programme. Overall, the Minister has put a lot of work into the programme and it is something that will be beneficial to many people, especially artists. I know of one very talented young artist ,who is not of Irish origin but because of comments made to him he gave up painting, which is very sad. If a support mechanism like this had been in place it might have helped him along the way. Many people tried to work with him and to encourage him and recently he went back to his art, having been away from it for many years. He lost out of many years where he would have benefited from being involved in the arts. This is a very helpful tool that will help artists right across the board. I compliment the Minister and her team and wish them every success. I look forward to hearing about the next phase.