Artists and musicians in Ireland are facing an emergency in terms of their access to studio and performance spaces. There is a critical shortage across the country. This was highlighted by the announcement last week of the closures in Dublin of Ormond Art Studios, which is a self-organised visual arts studio, and The Complex, which is the only multidisciplinary gig venue of its kind in the capital, containing a gallery, theatre, music venue and artist studios.

Losing spaces like this have devastating impacts on musicians' and artists' development in the formation of cultural communities and access to cultural events for the wider public. There have been at least 36 closures of independent art spaces in Dublin since 2000. Very few new spaces have opened to replace them and we have lost some historic venues during this period. The Tivoli Theatre, one of my favourite theatres, was demolished in 2019 to be replaced by a hotel, after having operated continuously as a cultural space for 85 years as a music venue, theatre, cinema and nightclub. These are the places that bring vibrancy and life to our towns and cities. One of the planning conditions relating to the redevelopment of the Tivoli site was that it would retain a performance and exhibition space, which is still not in use, despite ongoing engagement from artists to convince the current operator to utilise the space. In 2023, artists Eve Woods and Aoife Ward hosted an exhibition in the space to illustrate how unfinished it was. The walls are still unclad and there is no toilet. A young artist I know very well, who is a good friend of mine, contacted Staycity and offered to run the art space for free. Unfortunately, there has been no contact or response for the past two years.

The Tivoli space is an example of how bad the private market is at providing arts and cultural spaces. The plight of the artists in Ormond Art Studios and The Complex is another symptom of the same problem. Each case highlights the extreme precarity of cultural infrastructure in Dublin and throughout the entire country. In April this year, Praxis, The Artists Union of Ireland published a survey on artist working spaces in Ireland. Over 40% of respondents had considered leaving Ireland to find more affordable working spaces, and fewer than half of respondents were currently renting a studio, the main reasons being affordability and availability.

Are there any supports in place for artists being evicted from Ormond Art Studios and The Complex, and is the Minister intervening in this situation on their behalf? The precarity of private rental markets have left them and many others without access to studio space. One solution could be local authorities and other State bodies like the OPW use currently unoccupied buildings to accommodate artists who have lost their workspace. An excellent and successful example of local authority-owned facilities being used for cultural purpose is the old school of music on Chatham Row, which now provides affordable studio space to over 60 artists and community art collectives. It contains a workshop space and a gallery performance space in the heart of the city.

There is an urgent need for the State to expand this type of provision of publicly owned cultural space.

I hope the Minister will be able to provide some information on how the Department plans to go about that.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Black as an ábhar tábhachtach seo a thabhairt chun cinn.

This Government places really strong value on culture and the arts sector. As outlined in the programme for Government, we recognise that the arts are essential to a well-rounded society, providing opportunities for education, expression and community engagement.

As the Seanadóir is aware, the Complex is a multidisciplinary arts and creative venue in Dublin's north inner city governed by a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee. The Complex has been leasing its building, a former fruit warehouse off Capel Street, from a private landlord on a site ring-fenced for redevelopment. It is my understanding that the centre has been in negotiations with the developer for a partnership in which the Complex would be given the opportunity to buy back two floors. The Complex CLG has in principle secured a loan of €1.5 million towards the purchase.

I understand that the Complex has stated that talks took place with the Department of Finance, the Department of public expenditure and reform and Dublin City Council to assist with the finance of this offer, after an initial business case undertaken by Forvis Mazars. However, the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport was not part of this engagement.

The Department provides grants as a contribution towards maintaining and enhancing existing arts and culture facilities but does not provide funding for the purchase of property. The provision of local arts and culture infrastructure is a matter in the first instance for local authorities. Officials from the Department met with the chair of the Complex and other members of the team in December of last year and advised them of this position. Further communication in June reiterated the position. In any event, no funding was sought from this Department for the purchase of the building by the Complex. Any grant for refurbishment support would require chargeable title to be in place.

I understand that the Complex has been given notice to quit on 14 January next. I am sure that this must be a very distressing time for the staff, the board and all the artists who use the Complex regularly.

While I further understand that negotiations are still ongoing with the developer, the CEO, Vanessa Fielding, has written to the Department advising that the Complex will look for a meanwhile space to move into should there not be a positive outcome to those discussions. While the Department does not own any properties and is therefore not in a position to assist the Complex in this regard, it is the Department's hope that Dublin City Council may be able to assist it.

The Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, and I are acutely aware of the pressures artists and creatives face in finding suitable workspaces, especially here in our capital city. The lack of space has been a significant barrier for artists, limiting their ability to create and to exhibit work.

The Department recognises that local authorities can play a vital role in delivering the infrastructure necessary to provide a number of artists' workspaces nationwide. That is why the Department allocated €3 million in funding in 2023 to Space to Create, an initiative that aims to provide up to 60 artist workspaces in Dublin city, in partnership with Dublin City Council.

In addition, the Department launched the artists' workspaces scheme in June 2024. This is a €6 million pilot capital funding scheme for local authorities to increase the provision of artists' workspaces across the country. The primary focus of this pilot scheme is to provide funding to local authorities to enable them to provide additional capacity and availability of artist workspaces in their regions on a sustainable basis. Local authorities are invited to propose projects which can accommodate and address the demand for artist workspaces in their regions and produce workspaces that are fit for purpose, design focused and accessible. Capital grants up to a maximum of €300,000 are available to densely populated local authority areas, with capital grants up to a maximum of €150,000 available to remaining local authorities. With regard to both schemes, I am aware of a number of long-term artists' spaces that are being put in place.

I understand that this is a particularly distressing time for the Complex. I sincerely hope that a satisfactory resolution can be reached.

Sula dtiocfaimid ar ais chuig an Seanadóir Black, ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh na daltaí ó Balbriggan Educate Together. I welcome the pupils of Balbriggan Educate Together, who are here as guests of Deputy Louise O'Reilly. As is tradition here in the Seanad, there is no obair bhaile, no homework, for today or tomorrow.

I am disappointed. The reality of the situation is that we have seen at least 36 closures of independent arts spaces in Dublin since 2000 and that very few new spaces have been opened to replace them. While I obviously welcome the cultural capital scheme and the artists' workspaces scheme, it really is not at the scale it needs to be to meaningfully respond to the barriers artists and musicians face in trying to find studio and performance space. I highlight the positive examples of local authorities that have brought unused templates as to what the State can achieve if the Government just gives artists and musicians the space they need. It really will benefit not just the artists and the musicians themselves but also the wider public and will provide foundations for the growth of vibrant cultural communities that give life to our towns. There are specific examples the Government should look at in the cases of the artists in Ormond Art Studios and the Complex. An obvious example is 114-116 Capel Street, which is council owned and could provide adequate space to reaccommodate artists who have lost their spaces. The Debtors' Prison on Halston Street, currently owned by the OPW, is a space that is crying out for some imagination and initiative to be put into use. We need to be more imaginative and the initiative needs to be there to put it into use. We need to think about innovative ways to weave cultural practitioners into the fabric of their local communities. We need to think about the wider use of vacant buildings and vacant ground-floor flat units. We need to make the arts more visible and more accessible to all, and access to infrastructure is the first step in doing that.

Too often, artists are just dismissed as hobbyists. This world seems to get darker every day, and the light they bring to our lives is now more important than ever. We really need our artists and our musicians valued in this country. Simple artists' spaces just for them to be creative and innovative are really important. I will push this matter in the House over the next few months.

I thank Senator Black for highlighting the Complex's current situation. As outlined, the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport provides grants as a contribution towards maintaining and enhancing existing arts and culture facilities but does not provide funding for the purchase of buildings. The Minister strengthened funding for arts capital in the recent budget, with €6 million allocated for a new funding programme for arts and culture centres that is planned to be launched next year.

We are acutely aware of the pressures artists and creatives face in finding suitable workspaces, especially here in Dublin. The lack of space has been a significant barrier for artists, as the Senator has outlined clearly, limiting their ability to create and exhibit work. The Department has two schemes supporting local authorities across the country to provide additional capacity and availability of artist workspaces across the regions on a sustainable basis. In this instance, however, the Department is not in a position to provide funding for the purchase of a property for the provision of local arts infrastructure.

I know the Complex is engaging with the local authority on trying to identify a potential way forward. I hope that through that engagement a way forward can be found that can see a solution for the artists. I thank Senator Black for raising the matter.

Before we suspend, I wish to welcome guests of Deputy Robert Troy from Derry and a second group from Balbriggan Educate Together. As we said to the earlier group, there is no homework following your visit to the Seanad. That is a tradition here.