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Writing is not a luxury sport

If cuts are made to the Arts Council’s budget there is a danger that the inspirational role of the arts would be lost in Ireland the Oireachtas Committee on the Arts was told by Pat Moylan chairman of the Arts Council.

Instead, the arts should be embraced and its job creation potential exploited at a time of major unemployment, she said.

Moylan led a delegation, on October 14, 2009, that included actor Brendan Gleeson and writer Colum McCann, both of whom were funded by the Arts Council in the early stages of their careers.

Actor Gabriel Byrne accompanied the delegation as a show of his support for the Arts Council.

Ms Moylan said if successful Irish artists were sports stars, they would be more feted in Ireland. “I can understand how people carrying out an emergency exercise on the nation’s finances might have seen it as an obvious and legitimate target and moved on. But it is a flawed analysis and a faulty conclusion.”

“It simply makes bad business sense. The Arts Council supports 3,000 jobs with the €73 million allocation it receives from the taxpayer. In turn, those organisations pay €65 million in direct and indirect taxes each year. All those in the broad arts family work with a sense of vocation. There are no pension schemes, no lavish expenses, no sinecures. In other words there is no fat! Funding cuts go straight to the bone.”

© www.askaboutwriting.net
17Oct09 335
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