Deputy Kemmy has been given permission to raise on the Adjournment the closure of the Belltable Theatre in Limerick and the Art Gallery attached to it.
Adjournment Debate. - Limerick Theatre and Art Gallery Closure.
I would not have persisted in raising this matter in the House this evening if the subject matter of my case had not warranted it. The fact that the Belltable Theatre and Art Gallery in Limerick have been closed for the past three weeks is a matter not only of concern and importance to the people of Limerick but also of national concern and importance. The Belltable Arts Centre was established in Limerick in 1981 and since that time it has become an integral and central part of the cultural and social life of Limerick. In that period the Belltable centre has hosted plays, concerts, arts and sculpture exhibitions, poetry readings, the launching of books and records, a variety of entertainments and other events. International, national and local theatrical companies have performed there in a cross-section of plays.
This year the local company, the Island Theatre Company, Limerick's first professional theatrical company, was formed. It has used the Belltable centre as its permanent home and base. Some hundreds of art and sculpture exhibitions have been held in the Belltable centre in the past seven and a half years and many of these exhibitions have been opened by Government Ministers.
The Art Gallery has also hosted many travelling exhibitions from the Arts Council and other such bodies. In its relatively short life the Belltable centre has made a valuable and lively contribution to the cultural life of Limerick and the entire mid-west region. Unfortunately, it is not possible in the world in which we live today for a provincial theatre to be financially viable. Indeed outside of Dublin — there are also some doubts about many of the theatres in Dublin — all Irish theatres need some form of financial assistance to survive and the Belltable theatre in Limerick is no exception to this rule.
That theatre started off with a very severe handicap. It began with a fairly large debt due to the refurbishment of the theatre. It was most unfair that the Belltable theatre should be saddled with this debt at the start of its life. It was most unjust to a small provincial theatre. Seven and a half years later the Belltable centre is now £70,000 in debt. As I have said, the threatre and art gallery have been closed or, to use the language of the profession, have been in the dark for the past three weeks.
I would like to explain to the House how these debts came about. The Belltable centre has not received adequate funding to enable it to survive economically. In answer to a question in this House on 8 November this year, the Tánaiste, speaking for the Taoiseach, stated that the Belltable centre, in the period from 1985 to 1988, received an increase in Arts Council funding from £16,000 per year to £40,000 per year. While this increase would appear to be dramatic and while the Tánaiste was correct in his statement to this House, these figures must be analysed because they do not bear out the full story of the financing of the Belltable Arts Centre in the period mentioned by the Tánaiste.
In 1985 the Belltable centre generated 93 per cent of its total income, a figure worth thinking about. Unfortunately, this figure was reduced to 81 per cent in 1987. There were a number of reasons for that. The increase in the Arts Council funding must be viewed within these relative terms. In the same period most of the other art centres throughout the country generated only 50 per cent to 65 per cent of their entire income. In this respect the Belltable's achievement and excellence must be attributed to its record in gaining the sponsorship of a number of private firms in the mid-west region. In passing I should say that the Belltable — in the period since the inception of the national lottery — received only £10,000 from that source.
There are two immediate problems facing the Belltable Theatre and Art Gallery at present. The first is the clearance of the £70,000 debt I have mentioned and the second is the question of its access to increased Arts Council Funding. Given the present economic climate generally the Belltable centre cannot generate any more income from its resources without raising admission ticket prices to an unacceptable level which would automatically cut off whole sections of the community it was established to serve.
If we in this House are really serious about making increased public access to the arts a reality, we must make a realistic financial commitment to the Belltable centre and other such centres throughout the country.
Of course there are also other vital considerations to be taken into account in this matter also. There are eight permanent jobs at stake, a similar number of part-time jobs, nine social employment scheme places and countless other employment opportunities for actors, artistes and musicians participating in local and touring groups who use the support structures of the centre and its facilities throughout the year. Therefore it will be readily appreciated that it is almost impossible to quantify the practical and cultural benefits to be derived, in one form or another, from the Belltable centre. It would be a disaster for Limerick and the country as a whole if the Belltable Arts Centre were forced to close its doors because of our failure to provide the relatively small amount of money necessary for its survival each year.
Without, I hope, appearing to be bitter or acrimonious — which I hope I never am in this House — I would have to say that I would be lacking in my civic capacity and as a public representative if I did not put on the record this evening my deep disappointment to read in the press this morning that, of the total of £372,000 allocated to Limerick city yesterday, the Belltable centre received nothing whatsoever, not even a brass farthing. While I do not begrudge any other group their right to survival the three projects which have secured those grants are laudable; they are excellent groups in their own right doing useful work in Limerick especially with regard to youth development, nevertheless I believe the Belltable centre should have featured prominently in the allocation of that £372,000. I have my own view on why that money was made available to Limerick city but I will preserve that for another occasion. I regret very much that the Belltable Arts Centre did not feature in that list. I am sure there was plenty of money available to help out the Belltable centre in its modest quest for survival.
At present the Belltable theatre and art gallery are closed. Its assistant administrator, public relations officer and stage manager have been laid off over the past three weeks by way of enforced holidays and will remain so in the immediate future unless immediate financial help is forthcoming. Their employment prospects and those of other part-time employees and participants in the social employment scheme appear very bleak. At present there remain open in the centre only the restaurant and coffee shop, staffed by one or two permanent employees, the remainder being part-time who are paid at a very modest rate.
The problem is further aggravated by the fact that a new Arts Council is about to be appointed. Perhaps the Minister of State would be good enough to let me know when the members of this new council will be appointed and will take up office.
Because of the urgency involved I would appeal to the Minister of State to make an immediate decision in this matter. I know, from my personal dealings with her over the years, that she is a compassionate, enlightened person. This has been demonstrated by her attitude to the Rape Crisis Centres throughout the country. Generally she has been very helpful to me in the past. It would be my hope that she would respond this evening in a similar fashion.
In the Belltable centre recently I spoke to the Minister's colleague, the Minister for the Marine, about the provision of assistance for the centre. I met him when he was opening an art exhibition there when I fully outlined to him the case for the survival of the centre. He showed a sympathetic interest in the problem and offered to help in whatever way he could. In this connection I might make a suggestion to the Minister of State. It should be remembered that SFADCo have responsibility for the promotion and development of tourism in the mid-west region. The company also have an entertainment division which is responsible for the entertainment provided by the company in the Bunratty, Knappogue and Dunguaire Castles. Indeed SFADCo are also represented on the board of the Belltable centre. It should be possible for SFADCo, within their enlarged budget, to give help to the Belltable centre on an annual basis thereby enabling it to survive. There is no reason that company should not be able to do so.
I might reiterate my earlier appeal to the Minister to allocate some national lottery funding to the Belltable centre to enable it clear its debt. As the Minister may have noted I have refrained from any bitterness or acrimony with regard to where allocations of national lottery funds have gone. I do not believe in useless incriminations in this House. The Minister will take the point I am making. I would welcome her support in seeking a greater annual grant from the Arts Council, as a matter of urgency, to the Belltable centre to enable it keep its doors open. I would appeal to her also to use whatever resources may be at her disposal to clear the £70,000 debt which has accumulated there over the past seven and a half years.
The Chair invites the Minister of State to reply to that cultured and, if I might say so, charming presentation.
A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, you and I would agree, having listened to that case, that the Belltable Arts Centre has a worthy champion in Deputy Kemmy. I have noted carefully a number of additional points that may not have been made already raised by him here this evening. As an avid theatre-goer myself, as one of those who was extremely critical for many years, that all of the best in Irish theatre was in Dublin — as I think Deputy Kemmy said when speaking — I know the difference The Druid Theatre Company in Galway made to the west. I can appreciate that a similar impact would have been made by the Belltable Arts Centre in the mid-west region. All of us appreciate that the Belltable Arts Centre, now in its seventh year of operation as the arts centre for the mid-west region, is an arts centre of major stature in artistic and cultural terms. It has given access to the theatre-going public in Limerick and its environs to professional touring theatre companies, Irish and foreign. The centre has also hosted a number of music network concerts as well as other occasional recitals and held important visual arts exhibitions on its premises. It has also been the venue of a very active film club.
The artistic success of the Belltable is due in no small measure to the commitment, energy and imagination of its director and staff. However, the harsh reality of life today is that critical success must go hand-in-hand with a grasp of commercial realities. The Belltable has been assisted in carrying out its work by funding from a number of public sources including the Arts Council, the national lottery, FÁS schemes, SFADCo, and Shannonside Tourism as well as funding from Limerick Corporation and Limerick County Council. Of course, the centre has been a major recipient of Arts Council funding since its inception in 1981. Since then it has received more than £170,000 in direct grant-aid from the Arts Council. For example, in 1988 the total Arts Council grant-aid will amount to almost £47,000. The level of the Belltable's grant from the Arts Council has increased by 74 per cent since 1986, surely something which reflects the importance which the council attaches to the work of that centre. The level of Arts Council financial support is all the more striking when one appreciates that the funding by the council of other arts centres has remained static in the period since 1986.
As I already indicated, the Belltable Arts Centre has received lottery assistance amounting to £10,000. Deputies may well plead that additional lottery funding should be provided for it. In the first instance, it must be appreciated that the lottery aid of £10,000 for the Belltable was for "once-off" capital purposes, that is to say, to meet the cost of painting the fabric of the building and the refurbishment of light and sound fittings. Even more fundamentally, I would draw the attention of the House to the recent statement by the Taoiseach on the future allocation of lottery funds to assist cultural projects, when he stated here on 29 November:
There are a number of major cultural institutions for which my Department have responsibility and to which we have had to resort to lottery funds to support and carry out necessary works, and they are in a category by themselves. It would be my intention from now on to allocate all moneys for the arts to the Arts Council and give them full jurisdiction over the distribution. As the Deputy knows, in the early stages of the lottery there were instances where both the Arts Council and the lottery were giving assistance, and this was not satisfactory. It is my intention that from now on my Department would withdraw totally from this area and whatever resources are available from the lottery would be given to the Arts Council to distribute.
In summary, the future funding of the Belltable Arts Centre will be a matter for the Arts Council which is, of course, statutorily independent in the way in which it allocates its funding. As the House is aware, a new Arts Council will be appointed before the end of the present year. I have every confidence that the incoming council will fully appreciate the needs of regional arts centres such as the Belltable Arts Centre.
I will ensure that the points made by Deputy Kemmy are brought to the immediate attention of the Director of the Arts Council so that he will be in a position to appraise the new council of all the facts.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.45 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Friday, 9 December 1988.