Irish Arts €782m Profit Making Machine?
Pic: The world-renowned Abbey Theatre
A report released yesterday has confirmed the significant contribution that the arts in Ireland has given to the Irish economy. The report, which was commissioned by the Arts Council of Ireland, assesses that this amount totals a massive €782 million a year.
Arts Council chairwoman Pat Moylan said: “At last we can back up what we have known by instinct – the Arts Council is making a very significant contribution to the Irish economy, and can help to generate hundreds more jobs right now, for a proportionately small extra investment.”
This news comes at an important time (not coincidentally I would have to think) as the Government considers a range of proposals to cut expenditure across their departments, including support for the arts. Colm McCarthy’s recent ‘Bord Snip Nua‘ document adopted a non-emotional method of highlighting areas where money could be saved in every aspect of government spending. The arts in Ireland were seemingly deemed optional, with the Irish Film Board and Culture Ireland two of the victims pin-pointed for elimination.
Each suggestion by McCarthy would clearly cut costs immediately. However, the arts in Ireland have long accentuated our uniqueness and have driven tourists to our shores, silicon valley companies to our cities and encouraged our Diaspora to maintain a closeness with society back home. And now, with this report, we have evidence of a clear return on our investment.
If we are to listen to one of Ireland’s most prolific entreprenuers, Denis O’Brien, an effort to further invest in Irish arts and culture is a good idea for Ireland’s economy. “The fact that we have such a strong culture as a country really gives us one of the big advantages of any nation in the world”.
Or does this even matter? Should we never back down on arts in our society, no matter the burden that it inflicts?
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