Pádraic McCormack
Question:11 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands her views on funding requirements for the implementation of the second arts plan published recently and adopted by Government. [19154/99]
Ceisteanna–Questions Priority Questions - Arts Plan.
The Arts Council published its second arts plan covering the period 1999-2001 at the end of July this year. The plan sets out, on pages 28 and 29, the budget requirements for its implementation over the period in question. The Government has approved the plan and will be providing the necessary funding to facilitate the Arts Council to implement the plan in full.
There is no scarcity of money.
Does the Minister not consider the plan, as adopted by Government, to be very vague, general and loose in its interpretation of a range of issues? Should it not contain a specific schedule of commitments to be complied with each year? Will the Minister arrange for a discussion on this subject in the House? This is an area of increasing importance but because of the nature of Question Time and the fact that we cannot question the activities of the Arts Council, many Deputies who may wish to discuss these matters do not get an opportunity to do so. Will the Minister arrange to have such a discussion?
Is the Minister concerned by last weekend's newspaper reports of serious divisions in the Arts Council where there is said to be low morale and a great deal of tension? If such reports are true and the engine of the Arts Council is not functioning properly, the arts plan as adopted by Government will be implemented either very badly or not at all.
As Deputy Kenny is aware, the Arts Council is an independent body and indus trial relations within it are a matter for the council itself. It would not be appropriate for me to comment on the internal working of the Arts Council.
And the Minister is paying them the money.
The council is statutorily independent. The Deputy, who has years of experience in Government and Opposition, will understand that meaning of that. It would not be appropriate at all to interfere. I am sure the Deputy would be the first to raise the question if a Minister were to interfere and he would be perfectly right to do so. The plan was drawn up following a great deal of consultation. I do not accept the Deputy's view that it is general or loose. Before the plan was conceived the first arts plan was reviewed and its weaknesses and strengths examined. A very extensive consultation process took place among arts practitioners and the general public. The arts plan was drawn up on foot of that consultation and the implementation of the plan will be a matter for the Arts Council itself, not for me.
The Minister must have a view, as Minister responsible for the arts.
My role was to ensure that funding would be put in place so that the arts plan could be implemented. In that, I am glad to say, I received the full support of the Government.
I remind the Minister that one minute is allowed for her reply.
The Minister has received three yellow cards from the Ceann Comhairle – I do not know when he will show her the red card. What does the Minister consider to be the most important elements of the plan, as adopted by Government?
And no gobbledegook.
The public regard the Minister as the leader in terms of arts. She is the Minister responsible for the arts and she must have a view on the important elements of the plan. If the Minister says her only remit is to get money from the Department of Finance to give to the Arts Council—
—and hand it over to them without any limit.
—she has a very narrow view of her importance as a Minister with a broad remit which is of great importance in developing imagination and initiative in young children. Her role is much deeper and more responsible than that. I would like to hear her views on the funda mental issues in the plan as adopted by her colleagues in Government. I do not wish to know what discussions took place or whether Minister give full vent to their feelings on how the arts plan should be implemented in their constituencies but she might like to let me know that.
Did Deputy McCreevy charm her out of it?
The Deputy is himself in danger of getting a yellow card. There are still substantial barriers facing the development of the arts in Ireland. The purpose of the arts plan is to identify these barriers and address them. The legal position is that the implementation of the arts plan is the responsibility of the Arts Council. Before the plan was drawn up I commissioned a report from Indecon and Pricewaterhouse Coopers to see how best we could go forward on foot of the experience of the last plan. The Government would like to see further emphasis on the regions. The first arts plan made reference to this but we wish to develop that, as well as issues pertaining to the Irish language and the disabled. The establishment of strategic partnerships may be the way promote the arts at local and regional levels. That is alluded to in the second arts plan. It is also most important that the Arts Council move from being broadly a funding agency to become a more focused developmental agency.