Vol. 506 No. 1
11 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands the pro posals, if any, she has to make the Arts Council more accountable to the Oireachtas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14660/99]
The Arts Council was established as an independent body in 1951 to stimulate public interest in and promote the knowledge, appreciation and practice of the arts. The functions of the council are set out in section 3 of the Arts Act, 1951, as amended by section 13(2) of the Arts Act, 1973. Annual funding is provided in Vote 41 of the Book of Estimates and subject to the approval of the Dáil. The Appropriation Account of the Vote is audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Under the Arts Acts the council is required to submit its accounts annually to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit. The report and accounts of the council, with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, are laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas pursuant to the provisions of sections 6(3) and 7(1) of the Arts Act, 1951. The Appropriation Account and the annual report and accounts are subject to scrutiny by the Committee of Public Accounts.
I am satisfied with the existing arrangements for ensuring the accountability of the council to the Oireachtas and I have no plans to amend existing legislation.
I recall from the Estimates debate at the Select Committee on Heritage and the Irish Language that £28 million is being allocated to the Arts Council this year. Since the accounts are subject to scrutiny by the Committee of Public Accounts, does the Minister agree it would be in the interests of the arts, democracy, openness and accountability that the director and senior officers of the council should be asked to appear before the select committee to deal, not with the accounts per se, but with the broad policy direction the council is pursuing?
Under the Arts Act, as the Deputy will know, the Arts Council has always been independent. That independence is very important if we are talking about true democracy. Obviously, it is important that Government funds the Arts Council in every way it can. It is then for the Arts Council to decide how and to whom that money is distributed. There has always been an arm's length principle regarding the workings of the Arts Council. It is important the council is accountable as regards how it spends that money in general terms.
As I outlined in my initial reply, under the legislation and the procedures in place, there is a satisfactory way in which to account to the Oireachtas for the funds available to the council. It is important we continue with the arm's length principle. The work of the council has always been on the basis of this principle which ensures decisions on specific grants are made at a distance from the political process and remain indepen dent from the day-to-day business of artists and organisations.
The Minister misunderstands from where I am coming. I am not suggesting that the independence of the Arts Council should be interfered with per se. However, I would not see any difficulty in principle or in a democratic sense if the director and senior officers of the Arts Council were asked to give the background on how general policy decisions are arrived at and how funding schemes were devised without getting into the business of individual applications, whether successful or not.
The Arts Council has been putting a mechanism in place making general policy more transparent as well as the criteria on which particular grants are allocated to the different arts organisations. There are a number of booklets on how someone may apply for a grant and on the criteria laid down. There is openness in terms of how the Arts Council works. It is very important for the democratic process to ensure the Arts Council is independent in its day-to-day workings and that this arm's length principle continues. There is no need to amend existing legislation or introduce any further mechanisms to ensure the Arts Council is working in a fair way.
