Labour secures agreement on all-party process for Culture 2025 strategy

Earlier today, along with my colleagues Joan Burton and Kevin Humphreys, I met with a group of representatives from the arts community.

Representatives of the community have a number of significant concerns which they have asked the Labour Party to pursue – namely adequate funding of the arts sector, how to develop a visionary approach to arts and culture policy into the future, and how to recreate a dedicated Department with responsibility for Arts and Culture.

The meeting heard particular concerns about the current status of the Culture 2025 strategy as the draft has not yet been circulated, and we were asked to seek to ensure that the draft policy is referred to the relevant Oireachtas Committee to allow for a cross-party consensus on the issue to emerge, and for a more ambitious and sustainable vision for cultural policy to be enshrined within an appropriate framework.

This afternoon, I raised this matter on the Order of Business, and secured the agreement of the Taoiseach that the draft will be referred to the Oireachtas Committee for debate and amendment prior to finalisation.