Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 20 Dec 1995

Vol. 145 No. 17

Adjournment Matters. - County Cork Theatre and Arts Club.

Mr. R. Kiely

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, Deputy Stagg, who is deputising for the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Higgins. I am sure he will convey my comments to the Minister.

Amateur drama is part of the cultural life of rural areas, particularly in Charleville where I went to school. When I was at school there I went to a play in which my late uncle had a part. The name of the play was "My Fourth Field". Mr. Ted O'Riordan, who died last week, was a pioneer of the amateur drama movement in Charleville. The local group staged its own plays and subsequently it organised the north Cork drama festival which was successful.

Arising out of this success, the Shoestring Theatre and Arts Club, now known as the Schoolyard Theatre, was founded in 1984 by Mr. Kevin O'Shea. This amateur company has been to the forefront of the drama movement for the past 11 years. In that period the theatre has performed four world amateur premiers and had enormous success reaching all-Ireland finals in Athlone on no fewer than six occasions. They have won numerous awards for production, acting and set design and I hope the Esso trophy will be given to Charleville in due course.

A couple of years ago the Shoestring Theatre and Arts Club did not contest the festival circuit due to financial constraints. However, the group was selected by the RTÉ drama department to record a radio play entitled "The Greening of Grandad", which was broadcast in 1993.

Its long term goal was to have a theatre. The building secured by the group is Charleville's former national school which was erected in 1833 and served as a school for both girls and boys for over 150 years. It is located at the junction of the old and new Limerick roads. The beautiful cut-stone building is in good structural condition. It was developed into a theatre which was opened a couple of years ago and it is a credit to the Shoestring Theatre and Arts Club.

The total expenditure was £124,000. It stages approximately 20 shows per year and it also broadcast plays on RTÉ. It is a credit to the town and to those who work in it. It has already received grants of £4,000 from the Arts Council, £2,900 from Cork County Council and £1,600 from Ballyhoura Fáilte. However, that is not sufficient when one considers that a theatre group in Longford got £600,000 and another in Thurles got £25,000, although it has no theatre. Yet the Shoestring Theatre and Arts Club has got little State funding. Those who do the work should be recognised and get grant aid or the financial assistance due to them.

People who talk but do not do the work appear to get more, so I would appreciate if the Minister recognises the work done by this very energetic group. It is promoting drama of a kind of which we are very proud, but which is dying. Nevertheless, there is a demand from those involved in promoting drama and in providing facilities.

This Schoolyard Theatre, which is located on the old Limerick road at Charleville, County Cork, is beautiful. I hope the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht has seen or will see the work the company has done, including work on the seating and the stage. Everything is first class, a credit to the company and would do justice to any theatre in the country.

The company has received only £4,000 from the Arts Council, £2,900 from Cork County Council and £1,600 from the Leader group, Ballyhaura Fáilte, which it would not otherwise get but for the existence of this Leader group. It has a show booked from Dublin in January. Its work is ongoing, very energetic and is providing entertainment for the people of the town of Charleville and its environs, which includes parts of County Limerick and north County Cork.

In view of the generous grants and funding to other theatres such as Thurles — we know, indeed it is obvious, why Thurles recently obtained funding — Charleville should be recognised and get reasonable funding which would do justice to the work undertaken by the theatre there.

Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications (Mr. Stagg)

I know Charleville well. It is a lovely town and I am glad to hear this part of it is doing well. I am aware that the committee of the theatre took a 30 year lease on a former national school building in 1993 and converted it into a theatre and arts centre which seats just over 100 people. I warmly congratulate the theatre committee for advancing this very fine project.

I also understand that since then, amateur production by the Shoestring Theatre and Arts Club and visiting amateur groups as well as professional one man shows have been staged at the theatre, in addition to the facility being used by RTÉ to record a series or programmes and a number of exhibitions by nationally recognised and local artists being displayed. I am greatly encouraged by the dedication and enthusiasm of the people concerned in this venture who have given up so much of their time to assist in fundraising activities, and I can well understand their concern at the level of debt still outstanding at the centre.

This effort by a relatively small group of people, which has carved out an arts and cultural centre for the community, has been carried out on a voluntary basis. They have managed to preserve a beautiful old building which, but for their initiative, would have been left to ruin. In addition, they have helped to place the town of Charleville on the cultural map and in the process have created jobs.

The Senator is aware that the Schoolyard Theatre and Arts Centre has applied for funding under the cultural development incentives scheme which is administered by the Department under the operational programme for Tourism 1994-99. The scheme is designed primarily to assist the four main categories of the visual arts, performing arts, arts centres, museums, theatres and galleries; 170 applications were launched with the Department by the closing date of 3 February 1995. The total amount of assistance sought by these applicants amounts to £87 million, which compares to a total of just over £23 million which is available to the Minister over the five years of the scheme.

The process of assessment of each of the applicants has been ongoing, with concentration initially being given to the designed priority zones and centres of excellence throughout the country, as identified in the "Arts Plan 1995-1997" which was published by An Comhairle Ealaíon earlier this year. The Schoolyard Theatre and Arts Centre is not in one of these designated areas and it has not been assessed in any detail to date. It must be said, however, that as the works to the centre were completed in 1993, in advance of this scheme, it is unlikely that funds can be made available from EU sources on a retrospective basis. The Minister has asked his officials in his Department to investigate this matter and he will clarify the position for the Senator early in the new year. I should also add that the scheme provides the only discretionary funding from the Department for arts and cultural infrastructure in the regions.

An Comhairle Ealaíon is the body which provides funding on a current basis for arts centres throughout the State. They also have some limited discretion with regard to capital funding. The funding of An Comhairle Ealaíon is entirely a matter for themselves as they hold an independent statutory position. However, I am aware that the Schoolyard Theatre and Arts Centre received a grant of £4,000 from An Comhairle Ealaíon in June 1995 towards the cost of equipping the theatre.

I am pleased to inform the House that I have succeeded in achieving a significant increase in Arts Council funding for 1996 to a level of £18.5 million in 1996 compared to £16.25 million in 1995. It is, of course, open to the Schoolyard Theatre group to submit a further application to An Comhairle Ealaíon in 1996.

Mr. R. Kiely

I thank the Minister. There will definitely be a submission from the theatre for further funding. The Minister recognised the great work they have done in converting a beautiful old building.

The Seanad adjourned at 6.35 p.m. sine die.