Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 November 2017
45. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the duties her Department has in regard to oversight of the governance of publicly funded theatres in view of the recent revelations in regard to the governance of publicly funded theatres. [47973/17]
View answerDoes the Minister appreciate the sense of crisis which has beset the Gate Theatre and its image, notwithstanding it having had a very long and successful period as a leading theatre in Ireland, and the implications this has for Ireland's reputation, nationally and internationally? What assurance can she give to the thousands of students who are potentially thinking of pursing a career in the arts that if they do so, they will not face harassment and bullying?
The governance of publicly funded theatres, as with all bodies, is a matter for the board of the theatres themselves. All boards have a duty to ensure their bodies comply with statutory requirements and that their staff can work in a safe and respectful environment.
In recent times, as we know, there have been a number of alarming allegations and reports about sexual harassment in the workplace relating to the arts community. That is why I have invited the group of eight leaders from Irish theatre organisations, who recently co-signed a statement condemning sexual harassment and abuse of power in the theatre in Ireland, to meet with me and the Arts Council this week. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss ways in which the Department and the Arts Council together can support the sector in creating a safe culture and environment for those working in the industry.
More broadly, I have been engaging with the Arts Council and the national theatre to facilitate an industry-wide consultation exercise to be held before the end of the month. As I have said, I believe that, working together, my Department, the Arts Council and leading members of theatre organisations can encourage a safe and respectful environment free from abuse of power and sexual harassment.
I have also identified a number of actions I can take as Minister in regard to the bodies reporting to my Department. The intention is to help boards fulfil their functions more effectively, and to support them in ensuring that policies in regard to equality and respect in the workforce operate effectively in line with best practice. These include arranging separate dedicated governance workshops for board members and senior staff with a particular emphasis on issues relating to bullying, abuse of power and sexual harassment in the workplace; working on a collaborative basis with the Arts Council to make similar training available to other cultural organisations and arts centres around the country at a series of regional information days; and highlighting once again to bodies reporting to the Department the nature of their legal obligations, by seeking assurances of their compliance with obligations under employment legislation.
Did the Minister get an opportunity to read an apology by Mr. Colgan, the former director of the Gate Theatre, in the Sunday Independent, part of which stated that he thought the staff were his friends and that may have been his mistake?
For somebody who has an enormous reputation in terms of the work he has done in that theatre to have been so misguided in respect of what he felt were his freedoms to interact with the women who came forward must have been quite harrowing for them and deeply worrying. I suggest to the Minister that this is quite a crisis in the Irish arts and theatre. We do not know how pervasive it is in other areas of the arts. Maybe it does not really happen or maybe it happens on a wide scale. What we know about artists and those working in the arts is that there is always a huge amount of energy, passion and commitment - they are all the good things. However, when it goes wrong, as it seems to have in this case, how is the Minister going to create an atmosphere in which people going into that career can be resilient enough in respect of somebody who tries to speak to them in this way and gives them their marching orders as soon as they even attempt to challenge it? The matter is definitely extremely damaging to our national arts reputation.
Before I call on the Minister, I advise Deputies - I think they know well - that they should not name persons outside the House, despite what might be in the media. I suggest that Deputies be careful.
Hear, hear.
The Deputy is right when she says we need to change the culture. It has to be changed and that is why I want to remind, retrain and highlight again the responsibilities that individual organisations have towards their staff. It is important that they are made aware of it. Sometimes practices creep in and become the norm although they are unacceptable. That is why people need to familiarise themselves with good practice and the law governing all of this - employment law and provisions in respect of harassment and bullying in the workplace. There is a lot of legislation there. In fact, we probably have some of the best legislation in Europe in that respect. It is about adhering to that legislation and changing the culture.
First of all, I am bringing in the heads of the theatre organisations who signed the statement. I want to have a conversation with them and to hear what they have to say. I am happy to work with them and I want to work with the sector to stamp out this type of behaviour. It is absolutely unacceptable. As the Deputy rightly says, we want to see that it is a safe environment for young people entering the industry.
Would the Minister give a commitment in principle in respect of all such institutions under her remit as well as organisations that are in receipt of significant funding, although they may not be under her direct control, to ensure that from now on - contrary to Fine Gael policy, I have to say - there will be a minimum of two members of the staff on each governing board or body, whatever form it takes, one a woman and one a man. There should be a mechanism whereby people can bring issues up at board level, yet in all the reports we have seen this seems to be what was totally missing. People were very unhappy about what was happening but they had no way to address it.
When my party went into government with Fine Gael, it wanted to combine all the artistic bodies into one entity. It wanted to abolish the boards of each of the national cultural institutions. Deputy Tóibín has raised the National Museum. If there was staff representation of, at a minimum, one woman and one man, at least there would be a vehicle whereby material could be raised at board level. We can talk about all the HR stuff we like. This is about people being really badly treated. They must have been very shocked even to have been spoken to or about in the manner reported. The same is true of the museum. Some of the quotes on the museum are really horrific.
Regarding the statutory bodies that are under my remit, I understand that in many cases they actually do have a staff member on the board.
Yes, but not in all cases.
Some of the requirements are set down in law regarding the make-up of the boards. Each of the cultural institutions has legislation governing-----
We can change that.
The Minister without interruption.
I am happy, of course, to look at it. I think in many cases they actually have staff members on the boards of the various organisations. It is something I certainly can look at.
I do not think they have them at the Gate Theatre.
The Gate Theatre is not under my remit.
I think the Minister can change that. Ultimately the Department is responsible. The Minister cannot wash her hands of it.
It is still the State's dollar.
We cannot continue the debate.
