Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 19 Jun 1996

Vol. 467 No. 2

Adjournment Debate. - Arts Council Dispute.

Mr. McCreevy

I thank you, Sir, for allowing me raise this matter on the Adjournment and the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht for coming to reply, even though I requested the Minister for Finance to reply to the matter.

A dispute about grading and other matters has been taking place in the Arts Council for the past seven years. Following a number of meetings between the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, the Arts Council and the union representing the employees and a Labour Court hearing, an acceptable compromise was reached on grading and structure levels in the council. From the documentation available to me it is obvious this was a compromise. The line Department, the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, supports the Labour Court recommendation, the unions have agreed it as a compromise and all concerned are waiting for it to be implemented, but the Department of Finance will not give its approval. The Labour Court gave its determination last March but the matter has not been finalised because of the Department of Finance's refusal to accept the recommendation.

It is understandable that people in the private sector are often baffled at the manner in which matters are dealt with in the public sector. It is extraordinary that one arm of the State, the Labour Court, can make a recommendation which is acceptable to the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, but another arm of the State, the Department of Finance, can refuse to accept the recommendation. People in the private sector find it difficult to understand this type of thing.

In the past few weeks we have been inundated with requests from members of the Government to private sector employers to abide by Labour Court decisions. The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment, Deputy Rabbitte, has been vociferous in telling Packard it should implement the Labour Court recommendation for its employees. Surely the Government's refusal to accept a Labour Court recommendation for its employees brings the industrial relations machinery into disrepute. This matter is even more absurd because implementation of the recommendation would not necessitate additional funding for the Arts Council and would not place an additional charge on the public purse. Three conciliation conferences at LRC level and a Labour Court hearing have taken place in an effort to resolve the dispute.

Having exhausted the industrial relations process, the Department of Finance refused to accept the recommendation. What kind of signal is that to give to private sector employees and employers? That is the reason I asked the Minister for Finance to come before the House tonight. The compromise reached by the Labour Court is supported by the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht. I put it to the Minister who has kindly come in to reply that this matter should be resolved now. Given that the industrial relations process has been exhausted, the Government should be prepared to honour the recommendation of the Labour Court.

Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht (Mr. M. Higgins)

As Deputies will be aware An Chomhairle Ealaíon is an independent autonomous body set up in 1951 to stimulate public interest in and promote the knowledge, appreciation and practice of the arts. Operating under the arts Acts of 1951 and 1973, An Chomhairle carries out this work through a wide range of policies and programmes designed to provide financial assistance and other support services for individuals and organisations and generally to create an environment in which the arts can develop and flourish. Support of the individual arts practitioner is a fundamental part of An Chomhairle's mission and An Chomhairle understands it has a clear responsibility to foster those structures which assist and develop dialogue between artists, the arts and communities from which they emerge. An Chomhairle Ealaíon also seeks to influence and work with other State agencies, local authorities, private business, schools and colleges in bringing the arts to greater prominence in society, and from time to time is asked to advise the Government and Government Departments on artistic matters.

The board of An Chomhairle Ealaíon sets policies and takes decisions within the terms of the arts Acts which are then implemented by its dedicated staff headed by a director. I appreciate the efforts the staff have made for many years, but more particularly in recent times, in advancing and assisting the arts and indeed individual artists and arts organisations.

There is an excellent level of co-operation between the staff of An Chomhairle Ealaíon and my Department, cooperation that was very much in evidence in the development in recent years of what might loosely be described as a strategic alliance between the two bodies. This strategic alliance played a crucial part in bringing the arts plan to fruition and its continuation will repreent a key factor in how we can achieve the plan's objectives in a cohesive, structured and effective manner in the period up to 1999.

It would be remiss of me in the context of the debate not to pay tribute to the work of the present director of An Chomhairle Ealaíon who has done so much for that organisation in the past 13 years and who has decided to resign and move to the private sector. I wish him well in his new career.

While I have been successful in achieving increases in funding for An Chomhairle from a level of £10.161 million in 1992, the year immediately prior to my first appointment as Minister with responsibility for An Chomhairle, to £18.4 million in 1996, I very much doubt that the arts would flourish to the extent they are today without the expertise the staff of An Chomhairle contribute to the process of deciding how this funding can be best spent. I remain committed to seeking a resolution to the problem described with fairness by Deputy McCreevy.

My commitment to the arts, and in particular to An Chomhairle Ealaíon, is irrefutable and I am therefore glad of this opportunity to set out the history and the current position in relation to staffing levels in An Chomhairle Ealaíon. An organisational review of An Chomhairle Ealaíon by the Institute of Public Administration — IPA — was commissioned in 1992 when An Chomhairle was under the aegis of the Department of the Taoiseach. The main recommendation of that report was the creation of three posts at assistant principal officer level and the consequential suppression of two arts officer — higher executive officer — posts and the creation of three new executive assistant posts. However the IPA report was not accepted by the then parent Department who, with the agreement of An Chomhairle Ealaíon, agreed to seek a second opinion.

The Management Services Unit — MSU — of the Department of Finance was then engaged to examine the current organisation, management and staffing of An Comhairle. The MSU report subsequently recommended, among other changes, the creation of a new post of assistant director at assistant principal level in place of the three posts at assistant principal level recommended in the IPA report. The MSU also recommended the creation of six new executive assistant posts. SIPTU, however, still contended with the management of An Comhairle that there was a need for three additional AP level posts rather than the one recommended by the MSU, and despite discussions under the auspices of the Labour Relations Commission, agreement was not reached on the matter of the AP level posts. The case was subsequently referred to the Labour Court which, having heard the views of all concerned parties, recommended that three assistant principal level posts be created and that the other proposals agreed with the Labour Relations Commission be implemented.

I am now in discussion with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, to determine how best this recommendation can be implemented having regard to the policy of the Government not to increase overall numbers of staff in the public sector. Far from blocking a settlement, my Department will do everything possible to help resolve matters.

Mr. McCreevy

I accept the Minister's Department is very supportive; it is with the Department of Finance I have a gripe.