Our Mission is a society that recognises the value of our artists and creators, their incalculable contribution to the cultural and social landscape, wellbeing, quality of life and our international reputation and we commit to funding their success as a thriving part of our society.

Investing in the Arts

Funding from the Arts Council is vital to support our artists but too many still cannot access. Labour will increase funding to the Arts Council to €200 million per annum and ensure that the Arts represent a viable career, and our artists can continue to contribute to our cultural and social landscape. Building on this funding we will:

• Provide a permanent Basic Income for the Arts scheme and expand it to increase access, starting with younger artists. The pilot has been successful by providing economic security and facilitating creative freedom.
• Deliver reforms to the tax and welfare system to better support artists with a living income, recognising their status often as freelance independent contractors, and their production and service costs.
• Address barriers for disabled, LGBTQIA+ and ethnically diverse artists and art workers as recommended by the Safe to Create Amplify report.
• Seek to expand Arts Council support to a broader range of artists.
• Ensure proper enforcement of copyright law so that artists, be they writers, musicians, painters, composers or designers, benefit from the revenue streams arising from their work, and protect their intellectual property from AI.
• Publish a comprehensive and inclusive National Music Strategy to bring stakeholders together and promote the continued growth and success of the Irish music industry and seek increased airtime for Irish artists on licensed radio stations.
• Support the development of digital arts in the fields of audiovisual content, gaming, and animation.
• Develop a new National Cultural policy framework for the next decade and increase funding for Culture Ireland.

Spaces for Artists

Our artists need more spaces. Culture can’t compete with capitalism! Labour has a
comprehensive plan to ensure active state support for saving and growing artists’ spaces. Over the past 20 years, we have seen a hollowing out of arts and cultural spaces in Dublin city and in many urban areas. At last count, we’ve identified as least 52 closures in Dublin in that time and these losses have struck a serious blow to the cultural fabric and energy of our city.
The reality is that artists’ studios and venues don’t stand a chance when competing against commercial interests. We need to change that. A number of new and exciting places have also emerged over the years, and we need to ensure that we support them to survive and to thrive.

New National Cultural Institutions

Labour supports the development of a National Women’s Museum to illustrate how women have been represented through history and tell their stories and looks forward to the recommendations of the advisory committee feasibility report. We will also develop the public facing part of the GPO as a cultural hub. It is nearly three decades since the landmark National Cultural Institutions Act passed into law in 1997.

We will establish a project board to develop proposals for venues, located outside of Dublin to showcase the following themes of Irish culture:

• Irish song, dance, and language.
• Food history and the gastronomy of our island.
• Industrial heritage and the trade union movement.
• Irish science and exploration.
• Our island’s nature and biodiversity.
• International and domestic sport.

Our Cultural Heritage

We will:

• Provide dedicated annual funding for the Built Heritage Investment Scheme and Historic Structures Fund to protect, restore and preserve properties representing our vernacular architecture and industrial heritage.
• Continue to invest in the National Archives, storage facilities, and the digitisation of records.
• Develop an inclusive programme of Commemorations for the next decade.