Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here. I received apologies from the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, which I appreciate.

I want to get a sense of what the Government is doing on workspaces for artists. The availability of workspaces for artists throughout the country in both urban and rural areas has been an issue for as long as I can remember. A recent Dublin City Council audit found that there are only 529 workspaces in Dublin. That needs to be considered in the context of a city that has a 17% office vacancy rate, which shows how unjust it seems to be.

There is a market failure in the arts, which need Government support. I welcome the chance to get an overview from Government. The Department needs to do more in this regard. There is a consensus based on work Dublin City Council has done on this. The creative and cultural sector can be characterised by very out-of-date research. I commend the work that councillors in Dublin city have done in pushing for an audit and changing the development plan in respect of artists' workspaces, and engaging with artists and communities in the Liberties around Bridgefoot Street and Merchant's Quay artists' workspaces. I am sure the Minister of State will mention that Government money is going into that. It is clear that we now need a once-in-a-generation investment in artists' workspaces.

The national cultural institutions are central to the Project Ireland plan. We need specific investment over a five-year term in artists' workspaces to ensure that this problem no longer exists. We need to have plenty of artists' workspaces to encourage them to stay here in Ireland to combat the creative of our artists going to Glasgow, London, Berlin and elsewhere to find work and to find space. I put this all in the context of the office vacancy rate that exists, but also in the context of the investment the Department of culture and Government will make in the national cultural institutions and in ensuring that we can maximise the artists' workspaces in those institutions.