Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 May 2026
34. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport whether he will respond to the call of theatre practitioners for multi-annual funding of theatre companies, to sustain and encourage the growth of smaller theatre companies. [33420/26]
View answerAs outlined in the Programme for Government, the Government believes that culture and the arts are essential to a well-rounded society, providing opportunities for education, expression and community engagement. Ireland is world renowned for our rich, diverse and vibrant arts sector.
Ireland is renowned for producing world class theatre, from a proud tradition of literary and canonical plays through to more contemporary and experimental work that borrows from other artforms including music, dance, visual arts and film.
A network of cultural infrastructure exists throughout the country with the majority in the ownership of local authorities. Annual support, including programming and revenue supports, is provided to these theatres and arts centres by local authorities and the Arts Council. My Department focuses on providing capital grant funding to assist development and to maintain these arts and cultural facilities.
Under the Arts Act 2003, the Arts Council has primary responsibility for the development of the arts in Ireland and Budget 2026 has maintained the record funding of €140 million for the Arts Council.
The Arts Council supports theatre artists at all stages of their careers to create work that reflects Ireland out to the world and back on itself. Theatre is the highest-attended ticketed artform that the Arts Council supports.
The Arts Council's approach to supporting theatre is currently being reviewed and they have recently consulted with professional theatre organisations and artists, community-based theatre groups, festivals and arts centres.
As part of an ongoing review of the Arts Councils approach to supporting the theatre sector, they sought insights from practitioners working across the sector in all disciplines through a consultation process. These consultations were based on the feedback from a sector-wide survey which took place last year and were open to all theatre practitioners and genres, including musical theatre and community-based (amateur) theatre.
The Arts Council already recognises the many and varied ways theatre artists work, and supports artists to engage with audiences across Ireland and beyond in the creation, development, production and dissemination of theatre.
The Arts Council funds a range of theatre artists and organisations, from production companies to producing theatres and resource and representative organisations. Support for theatre production is primarily through Strategic Funding, Arts Grants Funding and Project awards. They also fund individual artists and organisations on a once-off basis through the Project Award.
