Radical arts legislation, which allows the Minister to direct the Arts Council to comply with Government policies, was passed in the Dáil yesterday.
The Bill, the most sweeping change in the sector since 1973, also compels local authorities to draw up an arts plan, and the legislation recognises, for the first time, dance and circus as part of the arts.
Rejecting Opposition claims that he was removing the "arm's length" principle between the Arts Council and the Government, the Minister, Mr O'Donoghue, said the principle was good "custom and practice" and he had not sought "under any circumstances, to ensure that it would be subjected to any diktat of government or of anybody else".
What he was seeking was "to ensure that the council will have the opportunity of advising the Government. It would be a mistake on my part to close off" the kind of advice and assistance which the council could provide.
The former arts minister, Mr Michael D. Higgins, said he did not interfere with the Arts Council in his time. "Autonomy is everything in relation to the Arts Council." Mr Higgins also said that the conditions under which artists were allowed to function in the Republic "are outrageous". He added that "we have been living off the sweat of people to whom we do not afford minimal working conditions" and said that the Minister should be able to go to his colleagues in social welfare and finance to redress the situation.
Mr O'Donoghue said Mr Higgins was correct about the "penury" of artists but "I am not forming a trade union in this legislation." He was seeking to provide functions for the Arts Council.
The Bill now goes to the Seanad.
