I move:
That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend Planning and Development Regulations 2001 (S.I. No. 600 of 2001) to provide for exemptions from planning permission for certain categories of public art murals where such work has artistic or cultural merit, has the permission of the owner of the building or structure on which it is displayed, is not a commercial advertisement and does not conflict with the Equal Status Acts.
This will be of great interest to the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming. Public art and public art murals make good cities great cities. They enhance not just the physical fabric but the lived experience both of the people who live and work in our cities and those who come to visit. We are genuinely blessed in this country with public art and artists of world standing. Anybody, for example, who knows the work of the artists' collective Subset here in Dublin, including its horse boy mural in the north inner city or its wonderful David Attenborough mural just off South Circular Road, can attest to the great value that good quality public art brings to us. It is a great tragedy that the Tánaiste, Deputy Micheál Martin, has just left. He is an enormous fan of Asbestos, the public muralist in Cork city, although I understand from recent media coverage that the feeling is not reciprocal for the artist in question, but we will leave that for another day.
One of the problems we have at the moment is that the local authority in Dublin city, Dublin City Council, is currently dragging the artists' collective Subset through the courts for alleged planning infringement for the two murals that I mentioned. This is happening at a time when so much of the cultural content is being drained out of Dublin. We have seen the protests around the Cobblestone pub and the attempt by the music community to maintain that hugely important cultural institution. We have seen mobilisations against the kind of speculative-led development and destruction of our urban fabric and daily we see young creatives, artists, musicians and others unable to live in the city because of the absence of social and affordable accommodation. The fact that as all of that is happening, Dublin City Council is taking punitive legal action against some of the country's leading public artists absolutely beggars belief. Having said that, the primary problem is not Dublin City Council. The primary problem is our planning code. Specifically, in respect of the Planning and Development Act and its exemptions, the requirements faced by artists who want to engage in good quality public art and murals are simply too restrictive. In fact, they are even more restrictive than many of the exemptions for commercial products.
The Bill I am introducing today, the Public Art Mural (Exempted Development) Bill 2022, seeks to address this legal problem and, in doing so, to support not only our own capital city but cities across the country. The Bill creates a new planning exemption. The idea is very simple. If somebody owns a building and gives consent to artists to provide good quality public art, subject to a number of very reasonable conditions, a planning application is not required. Those reasonable conditions are that the art has cultural and artistic merit, a legal definition that we use elsewhere in our legislative code, such as the legislation underpinning Arts Council grants; is not intended as a commercial or political advertisement or a campaigning tool during an election or referendum period; and does not conflict with the Equality Acts and is not in any way discriminatory, sexist, homophobic, racist and so on. There are some additional protections in terms of special areas of architectural conservation.
If this Bill were to pass, it would send a very clear signal from this House to our public artists, some of whom are in the Public Gallery today and I welcome them, that we want high-quality public art to adorn the streetscapes of our cities and towns. It would also ensure that Dublin City Council no longer has to pursue punitive legal action against one of those artists' collectives, Subset, and would allow it to go about its work of enhancing our city unhindered.
This is one of those rare occasions where common sense can prevail. Members right across the House can see the sense in this proposal. It would send a really powerful signal to Dublin, our artistic community, residents and visitors that we think public art is a good thing and we think it makes our city better. In Waterford, Barcelona and those parts of Dublin where we have good public art, it brightens up the public space. More than that, it allows us to ask important questions about the world we live in. When public art is at its very best, it is not just beautiful, but thought provoking and life enhancing as well.
I intend to introduce the Bill on Second Stage at the earliest opportunity and invite the Minister of State to actively convince his party colleagues to support it then. If this Bill were to pass unanimously and be enacted, it would demonstrate that the Oireachtas stands squarely with our public artists and stands squarely in favour of improving public space in our cities and towns and crucially, making Dublin not just a good city, but a great city.
