Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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I wish to raise the need for the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism to press for the launching and funding of the report of the sub-committee on arts and education under the Arts Council which relates to the Departments of Arts, Sport and Tourism and Education and Science. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, with responsibility for children, Deputy Smith, who has an interest in the development of children and their rights to which, in a way, this is also related.

As a Deputy I was Chairman of the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs when the new Arts Act, which has been in force for a couple of years, was going through the Houses of the Oireachtas. We spent many months receiving correspondence on elements of the Arts Bill. There was nothing as controversial in the Bill as what was not in it. One of the most important items which seemed to be absent was how to deal with matters closely connected to the arts which were seemingly abandoned at that point in time.

An issue which received priority and precedence was traditional arts. What constituted "traditional arts" caused its own controversy and we had some fun over a long period of time dealing with that aspect. The conclusion was that a section was inserted in the Arts Act which enabled the Arts Council to form sub-committees on issues of importance. It was deemed a sub-committee would come together for a brief specified period of time and present a report which would be acted upon to resolve the issue.

The first sub-committee was on traditional arts and the procedure seemed to be exceptionally well organised for this sub-committee. The report came back relatively quickly. The response was funding of €3 million that year and subsequent funding in other years. It seems the traditional arts have been quite satisfied with the recognition they received.

The second sub-committee established, again under pressure, was on the arts in education. This sub-committee was to report back by May last year. However, the report has not yet been published. Why is this and when will it be published and funded?

Why is arts in education important? I am a music teacher by background so I am the wrong person to present the case because I am biased. The arts play a major role in a child's development. What is language? Language is a rhythmic pattern. What is music? It is a rhythmic pattern. What does a child need to start? It is movement. What is movement? Physical movement involves co-ordination. What better develops co-ordination than a baby hitting a drum with a stick or a child trying to play the recorder? Anybody who tries to play the recorder moves certain fingers and leaves others down. I challenge most non-musical adults to try; they will have great difficulty. Hand-eye co-ordination comes from the work which music can do. It is fundamental, particularly for children aged up to six years of age, and we must invest in it.

In recent months, we have seen more descriptions of the use of music in special schools, for example, bringing speech to and reducing repetitive behaviour in some autistic children. It is both a stimulator and a soother in special schools. The use of music therapy is also valuable in other areas, such as strokes. I am diverging slightly, but we never challenge the idea that a physiotherapist will recover a person's ability to walk after a hip operation. We challenge, however, the concept of a music therapist to try to bring back speech after a stroke, a coma or an acquired brain injury or recognition after a coma. Music can keep our mental health stable most of the time. If one faces medical problems, music can help. It is not good enough that this report is on the shelf before it has been launched. A great deal of work went into it on both the arts and education side.

Music is a curriculum subject. One can get a substantial mark for a practical performance in the leaving certificate and yet a music teacher in a secondary school does not have to teach the practical side of the subject. Can one imagine studying leaving certificate art and never using a paint brush or studying science and never using a Bunsen burner? However, one is expected to study music and become a performer without ever having been taught to become one. That is a core issue in the curriculum.

Music is a core part of people's lives from birth to death. It has the ability to assist in core functions and in our quality of life from birth to death. It is fundamental to one's development in one's early years and continues to be at many stages. Although a core part of our lives, it is very much taken for granted, especially when one considers the amount of money spent on the arts compared to sport, for example. I have been told I should be very excited because the Arts Council is getting more money than ever. I am excited about it but it is not what it should be and that is why I am adamant that this report is launched.

I would like us to get an anniversary present this May, if not before, and that the report is not only launched but funded.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Keaveney for raising this important matter which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Deputy Séamus Brennan, who is unavoidably absent.

Education in the arts is a lifelong learning experience involving a range of different people interacting with the arts in a variety of education settings. Primary and post primary schools are key education sites in providing for children and young people's education in the arts. Education functions to develop and nurture the young person's innate creativity and intelligence and facilitates their understanding of themselves and the complexities of the world in which they live. Arts education is fundamental to achieving these two functions of education.

I consider that the benefits of the arts for the individual are greatly increased if exposure to the arts takes place during a person's most formative years and for that reason it is a real priority that the position of the arts in our education system must be enhanced, as lucidly outlined by Senator Keaveney. With the introduction of new and revised arts curricula and syllabi at primary and post primary schools, an increasing number of teachers and schools looked towards national and local arts resources to enhance the teaching and learning of the arts curricula.

A degree of work and consideration of this emerging issue has taken place in recent years, for example, the production of the Artists in Schools Guidelines document in 2006, which was a joint project of the Department of Education and Science and the Arts Council, and the product of an extended period of research and consultation with policy makers, providers and practitioners in both the arts and education fields.

Against this background, and in view of the growing interest and awareness of the arts in our community and the important role it plays, it was decided in October 2006 that a special committee be established to advise the Arts Council on how best to align the council's strategies for the promotion and encouragement of the arts with the priorities of the formal education system. The committee was established under section 21 of the Arts Act 2003, which makes provision for the establishment of special committees to advise the Council. This mechanism had been used earlier to establish the committee on the traditional arts.

The members of this special committee on arts and education, which was chaired by Mary Nunan of the Arts Council, were representative of the Arts Council, the National Centre for Training in Technology, the inspectorate from the Department of Education and Science and the National Association of School Principals and Deputy Principals.

In its deliberations the committee was to have regard to the wide-ranging demands on the school curriculum bearing in mind that responsibility for determining the content of the school curriculum rests with the Minister for Education and Science; the need to prioritise and cost its recommendations — these recommendations were to have regard both to their resource implications for the Arts Council and the fact that the budgetary resources likely to be available over the next four years to the Minister for Education and Science for the development of services in the education sector must be allocated to fund existing policy commitment; subject to the foregoing, the identification of what additional sources of funding, if any, might be available to fund its recommendations; and the roles and partnerships that are appropriate for relevant State and other agencies and bodies in this context, including the Department of Education and Science, the Arts Council, vocational education committees and local authorities.

The focus of the special committee's advice was to be on making specific deliverable recommendations for implementation over three to five years. The committee carried out its role thoroughly and conscientiously inviting public involvement through a series of focus groups, written submissions, invited speakers and special advisers as well as drawing on its own areas of expertise and research. In the course of its deliberations, it considered more than 90 public submissions and conducted three focus group meetings.

As is known, the special committee finalised its work last year and presented its draft report to the Ministers for Arts, Sport and Tourism and Education and Science for consideration. This is the first such study of its nature for some considerable time and the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism took the view that a reasoned and practical approach should be adopted to considering its recommendations, which reflect the result of the wide-ranging and indepth research conducted by the committee and for which I and the Minister wish to congratulate it.

Having considered the draft report, therefore, the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism organised a series of meetings between its officials and those of the Department of Education and Science and the Arts Council to consider the recommendations of the report. This interagency working group is currently in the process of identifying ways to give practical effect to the crucial recommendations of the draft report and is drawing up specific actions designed to respond effectively and efficiently to its conclusions. Work is progressing well and we are confident that announcements on the next steps to be taken will be possible in the near future.

I am mindful of the anticipation of those in the sector for the publication of this report. The publication of the report of the arts and education committee is a matter for the Arts Council, as the committee's remit was to advise the council on how best to align the council's strategies for the promotion and encouragement of the arts with the priorities of the formal education system. We would be failing in our duty, however, if we did not have ready the necessary actions to facilitate, as far as possible and practicable in the current environment, the proposals recommended in this report.

I point out that the preparation of a report such as this should be viewed as a positive step in the evolution of the arts in our society. Giving the arts a higher, more consistent profile at both primary and post-primary levels can bring significant benefits to the students concerned and, ultimately, to society in general. It is important to stress that this applies to all students and not only to those who are recognised as being particularly gifted artistically. As is the case in sport, because the future of the arts in Ireland resides with our children, it is vital that the arts are embedded in our education system at all levels.

I would also point out that it is due in no small measure to the massive investments made in recent years by this Government to the capital and everyday costs of the myriad of arts entities throughout the country that this debate is taking place.

In the past five years, for instance, the Department for Arts, Sport and Tourism has allocated a total of €90 million towards the cost of providing vital arts and cultural infrastructure and venues for communities to present the arts in all its forms. Complementary to this the Arts Council has seen its resources increase exponentially from €47.67 million in 2002 to its present allocation of €82 million in 2008, an increase of over 72%. The Arts Council, in turn, has at all times pursued a policy of engaging with young people, whether through its specific programmes or by its support of existing organisations that specialise in arts in education interventions, such as The Ark and Team in Dublin, Graffiti Theatre in Cork and Cups and Crowns Educational Theatre in Galway. These are signs of a maturity in our arts role and the integration of the arts into every aspect of our society. The outcome of the special committee on arts and education will be a further piece in the jigsaw of this exciting and wide-ranging arts and education spectrum.

Again, on behalf of the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, I thank Senator Keaveney for giving us the opportunity to bring this positive story to the notice of the Seanad. I assure her that I will bring the contents of her contribution to the attention of the Minister. I take this opportunity to compliment the Senator on her work as a former chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs over a number of years. With her special expertise and interest in the arts, she gave that committee great leadership. Her interest, knowledge and expertise in this area is welcome in the Oireachtas but, unfortunately, we do not often get the opportunity to listen to her play great music on a variety of musical instruments.

Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply and kind remarks. One would think I had seen his response earlier as I anticipated much of what was said.

If the arts is core to personal development then it must receive equal recognition in terms of funding from the Departments of Education and Science and Arts, Sports and Tourism. It is not good enough to leave it to the Arts Council to develop its own strategy and to obtain a couple of euro to do so.

Perhaps the Minister of State who has responsibility for children will consider speaking with the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy Devins, to see if the four ministries and the Minister for Health and Children, whose role in this regard is central, can come together on this. We are underestimating our potential in this area. While funding is being increased it is not increasing as exponentially as this demands. The crux of my point is that a euro spent now will save many euro during a child's lifetime.