Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 May 2023
8. Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the supports, if any, that are made available by her Department to encourage and promote poetry on a national basis; her views on the appointment of a poet laureate to the Houses of the Oireachtas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22636/23]
View answerThe poet laureate of the Canadian Parliament recently visited the Oireachtas at the invitation of the Centre for Canadian Studies at UCD. She came to the House and I interacted with her outside the House as well. I was struck by the value and importance of poetry, and the fact that they have a poet laureate in Canada. I thought perhaps we should consider having one here as well, so I wrote to the Ceann Comhairle about it. I am interested to know what the Department and the Minister is doing to support poetry in Ireland at the moment.
As Minister for culture and the arts, I have no specific role in relation to the proposal that there should be an Oireachtas poet laureate. I recognise the remit of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission in this regard.
I am aware that other parliaments, as the Deputy has said, have made such appointments. I am aware also of the very positive contribution that access to and participation in the arts can bring in different contexts, including in the workplace, in terms of individual and collective well-being and bringing fresh perspectives. Therefore, while it is not a matter for me to decide, I am hopeful and confident on a personal level that the matter will receive appropriate consideration because it is a wonderful suggestion.
My Department provides support for the arts through the Arts Council. Poetry Ireland is the organisation dedicated to developing, supporting and promoting poetry on the island of Ireland and is funded by the Arts Council and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. It has partnerships with arts centres, festivals, schools, colleges and bookshops at home and abroad and is committed to creating performance and publication opportunities for poets at all stages of their careers, and securing a future for Irish poetry. Further information on this is available on Poetry Ireland's website.
Poetry Day Ireland is an island-wide celebration of poetry which involves inviting people to read, write or share a poem. It is one of the most high-profile events aimed at promoting poetry on the island of Ireland. It is organised by Poetry Ireland and it took place on 27 April 2023, when more than 100 events took place with the theme "Message in a Bottle".
Culture Ireland provides substantial support for the promotion of Irish poetry worldwide, for example by supporting Irish poets in bringing their work to international audiences and by building on our strong global reputation for poetry. The Creative Ireland programme is a culture-based initiative designed to promote individual, community and national well-being. This programme has supported thousands of largely culture-based events exploring issues of identity, community, culture, heritage and citizenship, including projects on poetry. County Cork is, of course, home to a wealth of culture and heritage. The Deputy will find details of several projects in his constituency on Creative Ireland’s website under the heading "Creative Communities".
I thank the Minister for her response. I join with her in recognising the work of Poetry Ireland. I congratulate Ms Anne Tannam, who was recently appointed as poet in residence there. I also recognise Professor Paul Muldoon, who is the chair of Poetry Ireland at the moment.
I thank the Minister again for her positive reaction to the suggestion. It is amazing that when we make suggestions, we often get ridiculed and criticised. I feel we should be able to put forward suggestions in this Chamber. Sometimes our friends in the media are the first to knock ideas instead of actually looking at and possibly embracing them and seeing the benefit.
In respect of financial support for poetry in particular, are there any specific figures the Minister can give us from her Department on how much funding has been made available, for instance, to the various institutions to support poetry? Would she agree with me that in this Internet age of artificial intelligence and so on, it is important that we slow down and listen to people who write poetry, which comes from emotion and from the soul?
As I outlined in my earlier answer, we provide support in a range of ways; for example, through the Arts Council, which has seen an increase in funding since I became Minister, through what we do in Culture Ireland and Creative Ireland, and through the support we provide to poets under the basic income for the arts scheme. I can forward to the Deputy exact details of the range of funding that comes from my Department, which is pretty vast.
We have such a proud, strong tradition of poetry. We are known right across the globe for our poetry and poets from Yeats to Heaney. Sadly, over recent years we have lost some of our greatest poets, including Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Derek Mahon and Brendan Kennelly, but they have left a remarkable legacy that will live on for generations to come. I am a proud County Monaghan woman from the "stony grey soil", where "the bicycles go by in twos and threes" as Patrick Kavanagh wrote in "Inniskeen Road: July Evening". My brother is a published poet, so I have a natural grá for this area.
I look forward to receiving information from the Minister on the supports that are being made available. I note that this week, The Irish Times had a supplement entitled Fighting Words in which there were some very interesting poems written by young people. I would be interested to know what the Minister is doing to encourage and support young people in the development of poetry. Some of the stuff is really good. I will quote a few lines from one of them. A young lady called Ciara Nic Eoghain, who is aged 13, wrote a poem about sitting in the garden. The last part reads:
I wish I could freeze this moment,
Hold it with me forever.
But no, all things must change,
So now I say goodbye,
To this moment caught in time.
That is powerful stuff. Some of us could sit and reflect on it from time to time. Again, many parliaments around the world and other institutions recognise poetry, poets in residence and poet laureates. I encourage colleagues to perhaps think about this and support the proposal.
The supplement the Deputy read during the week, Fighting Words, is supported by my Department through Creative Ireland. It is a wonderful initiative that I am proud to support. As I said, I will send the Deputy on more details on that and on the idea itself. It is a terrific idea, but it is for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission to consider. I would be confident that it will give it the appropriate consideration of which it is worthy. Well done to the Deputy for suggesting it.
