Vol. 427 No. 6
17 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht his views on whether the 158 per cent increase in the number of visual arts practitioners as given in the capital programme for the Arts 1994/1997 has been matched by a commensurate increase in the Arts Council; and the steps, if any, he intends to take to address this situation.
The increase of 158 per cent in the number of visual arts practitioners quoted in the Capital Programme for the Arts 1994-1997 published by an Chomhairle Ealaíon — the Arts Council — refers to the period 1971 to 1990. During this period, funding for the Arts Council itself increased from £80,000 to £9,478,000 per annum. For the information of the Deputy, the allocation for an chomhairle for 1993 is £11.5 million. The Deputy will appreciate, as I do, that the percentage increase in funding is far in excess of the percentage referred to in her question.
I fully accept that the amount of general funding for the Arts Council has increased substantially and in line with the figures given by the Minister, but would the Minister like to comment on the lack of increase in the number of bursaries granted in those years, their value and the failure to bring them into line with the expansion in the number of practising artists?
As I mentioned before, the Arts Council operates, quite correctly, autonomously from me. I make provision for the Arts Council and the council makes decisions. The Deputy has asked a question on which I do have an opinion. I agree with him that there is an importance attaching to the bursaries. There will have to be an examination of what happens when the bursaries have been exhausted. In relation to music, for example, the manner in which beneficiaries of bursaries can feed their experience back into the music system needs to be examined, and I shall certainly do so.
