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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 31 May 1995

Vol. 453 No. 7

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Capital Expenditure on the Arts.

Máirín Quill

Question:

32 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht in relation to the allocation of the £67 million capital expenditure for the Arts, the amount of money already allocated and the areas to which it was allocated; the composition of the advisory committee to be put in place by him to determine criteria for the distribution of the remaining funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9902/95]

Under the European Union Structural Funds Operational Programme for Tourism 1994-99, it is envisaged there will be expenditure of over £67 million on national and regional cultural activities. This will include expenditure on developments at the major national cultural institutions, as well as on regional initiatives and the establishment of a cultural development incentives scheme in co-operation with local authority-private contributions.

While the detailed allocation of all the funds available under the operational programme has not been finalised, funds have been committed at national level to the development of the National Museum at Collins Barracks and investment in a new home in Dublin Castle for the Chester Beatty Library. At regional level, funds have been allocated to Galway and Longford Theatres, Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork and the Hunt Museum, Limerick.

The Deputy will also be aware that I have invited proposals for consideration for funding under the cultural development incentives scheme. This scheme has been over-subscribed which is a good indication in itself, and the process of evaluation of projects has been made extremely complex by both the quantity and quality of the applications received. No decisions have been made yet with regard to the individual projects to receive allocations under the cultural development incentives scheme.

With regard to the composition of the advisory committee to be put in place by me in order to advise on the selection of projects under the cultural development incentives scheme, the committee will comprise of representatives of my Department, An Comhairle Ealaíon and the regions. I hope to establish the committee in the next few weeks.

This is our biggest single allocation of capital moneys ever made to the arts involving a total of £67 million. Will the Minister accept it is grossly unsatisfactory that there has not been a public debate on how this money is to be spent? Will he further accept that no agreed criteria have been laid down in regard to how allocations ought to be made? As of now, there is no evidence that these moneys will be spent in accordance with the area based principles laid down in the three year arts plan designed by the Arts Council.

If I were to ignore the plan, which is a work of partnership between the Arts Council and my Department, I would hardly appoint representatives of the Arts Council to the advisory committee which will advise me. It is not true that there has not been much debate on the allocation of funds. The purpose of the three year plan was to integrate the capital funding with the envisaged expenditure over a period of time, with the current funding. That is why we had prioritised counties and areas of excellence. Instead of it being done in an arbitrary way, it is being done quite consciously through an attempt to integrate the development plan, which has to be approved by Government, and the Structural Funds. The invitation, which was part of an advertisement to local authorities and others, to submit projects led to considerable debate on the quality of projects. Approximately 170 projects were submitted and I have said publicly that they are of excellent quality. This forced a debate at local authority level, which I very much appreciate, on the merits of different projects. Funding will not be allocated in an arbitrary way. The Deputy knows there will be representatives of the Arts Council, my Department and the regions on the advisory committee.

Will the Minister accept that he has already ignored the plan and the Arts Council in respect of the allocations made to the institutions which he described as being the major national institutions? Will he accept that it is absurd for the Arts Council to make allocations when the Minister is also making allocations from his Department without any consultation with the council or with local authorities? Will the Minister comment on that?

I am not aware of the matter to which the Deputy refers.

Did the Minister confer with the Arts Council? Why is it that moneys paid out to the Abbey Theatre were not paid through the Arts Council? Whose decision was it to pay those moneys through a different channel? This afternoon the Taoiseach referred to the fact that he could not allocate public moneys as if they were his own. Does that apply to all Departments?

I rely on the Deputy's sense of fairness to broadcast the truth. I consulted the Arts Council on the allocation of £300,000 to the Abbey Theatre. There had been an argument between the Arts Council and the Abbey Theatre about the cost of reconstructing the foyer of the building, which was approximately £500,000. The Abbey Theatre received approximately £250,000 from the Arts Council towards the cost of that work. The view of the Arts Council was that it had discharged its responsibilities and it was now up to the Abbey Theatre to find the balance of the funding.

The Arts Council did not advise against giving £300,000 to the Abbey Theatre to wipe out the debt which was a source of contention between the two bodies and on which it was paying interest. Savings made in my Department came to between £400,000 and £500,000 at the end of the year and I allocated some money, about £125,000, to unemployment centres for a pilot scheme which was described in the Estimates as community arts intervention schemes. I then allocated £300,000 to the Abbey Theatre to enable the block to be taken away so that the Arts Council and the Abbey Theatre could go on in an orderly way and plan its future.

I did not allocate this money against the advice of the Arts Council, it was consulted and matters were handled properly. In fact I took that decision during the period of office of the last Government — I think in September — but when I left Government the money was allocated for another purpose — I can go into that if Deputies so wish. An issue arose about the National Ballroom but it did not have an application in my Department at that time. They were planning the future of the National Ballroom and I had suggested to them in September that Dublin Corporation should purchase the building and thereafter could apply in the normal way for development funds. That is exactly what happened.

The Minister is setting up an advisory body to advise him on the distribution of whatever remains to the 177 applicants. Who will be on that advisory body and how many of its members will be area based?

I am glad the Deputy is silent on the matter to which I have replied and that we have clarified it. The advisory body will be representative of the regions. This is a difficult matter because I am anxious that counties and regions be represented but at the same time there are many counties where the representatives are simply not available because they have applied for funding. As I have said, I have to make the best decision to make it as representative as possible not only in the sense of geography but to get people whose judgment is good and who will be able to bring a broad vision to bear on it. I will establish the committee in the next few weeks.

Ba mhaith liom ceisteanna a 33 agus a 64 a fhágáil isteach go dtí an chéad lá eile.

May I retain the remainder of my questions for next month?

Before Deputy O'Rourke reads her Private Notice Question, I also had tabled a Private Notice Question on the closure of the Sunbeam factory in Cork today with the loss of 175 jobs. While I appreciate the fact that I have been informed that it will be allowed on the Adjournment, I wish to protest in the strongest fashion. We have raised it three times on the Adjournment.

The Deputy has made his point. If the Deputy wants to pursue it further, he cannot do so now during Question Time but may do so by getting the co-operation and the assistance of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's office.

I have tried to abide by the rules but I cannot raise this matter on the Order of Business. I want to question the Minister but I have no opportunity to do so on the Adjournment. I wish to protest in the strongest fashion about the job losses in Cork.

I must insist that the Deputy resumes his seat.

I have abided by the rules of the House and tabled a question but I was not accommodated today.

The Deputy has had a great deal of latitude and I will hear no more.

On a point of order, could I ask the Chair for its guidance? Sunbeam in Cork is in liquidation and we cannot ask questions in this House.

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