asked the Taoiseach if it is intended that the Irish Theatre Company will be funded directly by his Department in the future and not through any other agency.
4.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers - Irish Theatre Company.
3.
asked the Taoiseach the present status of the Irish Theatre Company in relation to grant aid from his Department.
I propose, a Cheann Comhairle, to take Questions Nos. 3 and 4 together.
The funding of the Irish Theatre Company is under consideration in the context of the Estimates for Public Services for 1983. The company receives no direct aid from my Department at present.
Is it not the case that the Arts Council made an announcement that the Irish Theatre Company would not be funded for the second half of 1982 and that during the February general election the Taoiseach undertook that his Department would guarantee funds for that company to keep them in existence?
I do not recall saying that during the general election campaign and I hope the Deputy is not suggesting that one is related to the other. I made a special once-off arrangement to keep the Irish Theatre Company going in 1982. At the moment we are examining how that company can be financed in future.
Am I to understand that the Irish Theatre Company will be funded separately and that the Taoiseach intends to change the 1973 Arts Act and the functions of the Arts Council in relation to the Irish Theatre Company? The Arts Council made a decision, within their terms of reference, concerning the Irish Theatre Company and the funding of touring theatre in Ireland and they decided touring theatre could be better achieved in another way. Given this change in the organisation of the Arts Council vis-à-vis the Irish Theatre Company am I to understand that the Irish Theatre Company are now directly under the Department of the Taoiseach and removed from the aegis of the Arts Council?
A special once-off arrangement was made to fund the Irish Theatre Company during 1982. I would like to know if the Deputy is pressing me to look after the Irish Theatre Company.
I am asking the Taoiseach to clarify whether the Arts Council have a role to play in organising the touring theatre in Ireland considering there has been a two-fold increase in the number of touring theatre in Ireland under the new arrangements of the Arts Council. I want to know if the Taoiseach is running a parallel touring agency directly through his Department.
My Department are not getting into the theatre business; we put on our theatrical performances in this House. In 1982 there was a crisis prevailing in the Irish Theatre Company, perhaps as much as anything else because of the general election situation at the beginning of the year when decisions which should have been taken were postponed. In order to deal with that emergency situation for 1982 I made a special arrangement of which the Deputy is aware. The future of the Irish Theatre Company in 1983 and further years is at present under discussion.
Would the Taoiseach clarify for the benefit of the House and members of the cultural division of a transport workers' union employed by the Irish Theatre Company if in future all decisions relating to the funding of that company will be made exclusively by the Arts Council or will his Department continue to have a participatory role?
I would prefer if my Department did not have any participatory role because we are not a theatre people. The 1982 arrangement was to meet an emergency and I am sure the Deputy supported it.
I did.
I want to look on it as an emergency type arrangement and get some permanent arrangement for the Irish Theatre Company for the future.
It is well documented that the Abbey Theatre consider they are in a crisis situation at the moment. Is the Taoiseach considering removing the Abbey Theatre from the aegis of the Arts Council and taking them directly into his Department in order to resolve that crisis for 1983?
There is no question of my Department wishing to assume anything under their jurisdiction. We intervened as an emergency operation in 1982 and operated solely on the basis that it was a special once-off emergency arrangement for 1982. The situation of the Irish Theatre Company can now be discussed with all concerned. The Abbey Theatre are not involved in any way in this question.