Richard Boyd Barrett slams marginal arts funding increase

Minister, earlier this year theatre form outlined the widespread poverty, lack of income and employment security for artists and people working in the arts. The National Campaign for the Arts pleaded with you prior to the budget to honour the commitment of Taoiseach Faradkar to double art spending, which has only creeped up. In the most recent budget we saw a very, very marginal increase in arts funding, which will do nothing to address the widespread poverty, income and employment security of artists, people working in the arts, and indeed I myself have pointed out to you repeatedly about the lack of security for film crew in this country who enjoy absolutely no income or employment security. So why was the budget so poor in this regard and what are you going to do to address this issue? Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you. Deputy Penrose is also taking this question. Deputy Penrose is also taking this question. Deputy Penrose is also taking this question. He is not here. Deputy Penrose's question is linked with Deputy Boyd Barrett's. I propose to take the two parliamentary questions together. I'm aware of the research that Deputy Boyd Barrett raises, and since becoming Minister I've put in place a number of initiatives and additional supports to the Arts Deputy that I believe will, over time, make a significant difference to the income of people working in the performing arts. Total funding for the arts and culture sector in 2020 will increase by over 2 per cent from £189 million to almost £193 million, so that's £4 million. This funding will comprise £153 million in current expenditure and £39.7 million in capital investment. You mentioned there that the Arts Council and primary support for the arts is delivered through the Arts Council. Funding has increased in recent years and will reach £80 million in 2020. This is an increase of £5 million or 6.7 per cent over 2019. The Arts Council, which is independent in its funding decisions under the Arts Act, operates within a published 10-year strategic framework entitled Making Great Art Work. This strategy prioritises support for artists throughout their careers by the involvement of many agencies and cultural provision by the impact of the arts on the creative economy and by the depth and breadth of people's engagement with the arts. The cumulative impact of these funding increases is further testament to the commitment, which you mentioned as well, to double the Government spending in the arts, culture and heritage sector by 2025. In this context, I am already delivering additional supports to the arts and culture sector, building on the £1.2 billion which has been earmarked for my sector under Project Ireland 2040, thus leading to increased activity and employment across all sectors under the remit of my department. In July of this year, I announced the completion of a review of the Percent for Art scheme. The outcome of this review led to changes to the scheme's bans and limits, which will make significantly increased funding available to the creative community. Many artists have already received high-profile commissions for public artworks as a result of this scheme, and these increases will ensure many more will also benefit. The new limits and bans will apply from 1 January 2020. You can get those details from the website. I am also re-establishing an inter-agency group to improve information gathering and collation and sharing of best practice on Percent for Art schemes. This group will also link in with the Arts Council and seek to enhance the Council's existing advisory role in relation to the scheme. Artists of course deserve our full support, and they have my full support, particularly given the significant income challenges that they face. But with regard to their paying conditions, I would also like to draw the attention of the House to the recent announcement by Minister Regina Doherty and myself to extend the Social Welfare scheme for self-employed artists on job seekers' allowance on a permanent basis to other self-employed professional artists, such as those working in theatre and music. This scheme recognises the unique creative circumstances of professional artists in receipt of job seekers' allowance, and it gives them special assistance in their first year out of work, allowing them to focus on their creative output. In addition to this, my department has also worked to address conditions and employment rights in the performing arts and screen industry in conjunction with the relevant agencies under its remit. And it is important to note that employees who are working in the arts and screen industry, and that is important to note that employees who are working in the arts and screen industry, who are working in the arts. In addition to this, my department has also worked to address conditions and employment rights in the performing arts and screen industry in conjunction with the relevant agencies under its remit. And it is important to note that employees in every industry, I just finished the sentence. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. No problem. Mr. Let's just realise what a bad situation we are in. And it is against a background where, to be honest, this country's international reputation rests, to a very, very large extent, on the reputation of our artists, of our musicians, our writers, our actors, our theatre producers and so on. And yet, we spent a miserable 0.1% of GDP, the lowest in Europe, on arts. And you gave a frankly miserable 5 million increase in the arts budget at the recent budget. And the consequence for artists is 80% of our artists are in precarious jobs. 60% earn less than the average industrial wage. On average, workers earn less money, work less hours, and the average wage is something like two-thirds of the national average. Right? So we are treating our artists and workers in the arts with content. And I don't really see how the miserable increase that came in the budget is going to do anything to address that. Deputy Boyd Barrett said that it was a miserable increase. And I think, you know, what they have said, first of all, is that they welcome, it is an increase, it is not a cut. It is 5 million. And, you know, obviously, the commitment that the teaching has given to double funding by 2025, we're still on the trajectory to do that. And we still intend to do that. But we're all aware of the fact that this was a budget that was not a normal budget in normal circumstances. And under those circumstances, the Arts Council have accepted that. So I think they're the people best placed to discuss this. And I'm satisfied that the 80 million that we secured this year, which is the highest level in over a decade, was actually a positive rather than a negative. So I don't think we should try and mislead people in that regard. In terms of our reputation, you mentioned our international reputation, I agree with you wholeheartedly. It's really important that our artists speak volumes in terms of our global reputation. And, you know, by the fact that I did write a novel, I understand myself how difficult it is for people to earn a living. I couldn't have given up my job myself just to write books. So it is something I'm acutely aware of. But I think it's facetious to say that the Social Welfare Scheme doesn't assist people because it does. Minister, four years after the Taoiseach's commitment, we have made about a 15-16% increase in arts funding. But it's still at 0.1%, right? So we're nowhere near on trajectory to double arts funding. In People Before Profits budget submission, for the last three or four years, we've actually allocated a doubling of the arts budget, which would have enormous benefits, by the way, for this country, both economically, socially, as well as for artists. So I don't really accept that the miserable fight, and of course the Arts Council, what are they going to say? They're dependent on your funding. They're not going to say anything too loudly against you. The National Campaign for the Arts expressed very considerable disappointment at the increases. And just a quick mention as well of Film Crew Minister, who I've raised repeatedly, right? We need to do something about the fact that 80 million euro is going into film every year, and nobody has any security because of the DAC structure through which that money is filtered. Something needs to be done to address that, to give some sort of income and employment security to Film Crew. But more generally, we need to look after our artists. Yeah, just to say, I never said the Arts Council were happy. I said that they welcomed it under the difficult circumstances of this particular budget. And just in relation to the report that has been quoted earlier, it should be noted that this category is much wider than just the arts sector. It also includes gambling and betting activities, as well as sports, amusements and recreation. I want to commend Deputy White Barrett for doing a policy initiative in the first instance, because Labour has not produced a policy document as yet in any form or manner. But just to say as well, just to finish, sorry I didn't interrupt you Deputy, just to say, the Commission's recommendations, I'm just going to answer your question in relation to the national minimum wage. The Commission's recommendations date have been accepted by Government, resulting in an increase in the national minimum wage between January 2016 and January 2019, from £8.65 to £9.80 per hour. So, and the legislation in relation to the setting of the national minimum wage has existed since the year 2000. But suffice to say, I take all your comments on board. I think this particular Government, and particularly since I have become a Minister, I have increased the capital and increased the current funding to arts, and particularly at a very difficult time. I think that has to be acknowledged, and I hope that we will be able to do further and give more funding to the Arts Council and indeed bring up other measures such as the Percent for Art and the Social Welfare Scheme into the mix in policy formation. Because I do think artists have a difficult job to do, and they should be encouraged, and should be supported in any way that they possibly can be. I think those in came a much lessми them right, and I think that they would get the benefit to their CAD which is now for me now. So, and I think they would get the З ninety-of as well to you now for everything because that they are meant to settle, but one of those in the last seven days government law ideas is more dedicated to whether these necessary because they have a chance to take their families each other and be satisfied in terms of what it is.