A full year of income support for artists worth €34.4m has been announced as part of a €1.3bn package under Budget 2027 for the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.
Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers said that the income support will help artists “remain in creative work”.
The minister stated that the Budget would provide “record funding” for The Arts Council, with an increase of €2.5m to €142.5m.
He confirmed a budget allocation of “almost €89m support to national cultural institutions” with an increase of €3.8m.
The minister also said that funding “will be provided for the Fleadh Ceoil” which will return to Belfast next year, after a hugely successful event last summer.
Meanwhile, continuing investment was also confirmed for the re-development of Crawford Art Gallery in Cork. The €93m redevelopment is a major project under the National Development Plan.
The minister said that the aim of the Budget programme was to “promote, support, and protect a diverse and plural media sector, including support for Coimisiún na Meán”.
He said the Budget will allow the department to provide continued funding for the Broadcasting and Media fund to counter disinformation and support local democracy.
In relation to broadcasting, the Budget allocation for next year will allow the department to provide funding for media and broadcasting of €352m.
Read more: Latest Budget 2027 stories
During his Budget speech in the Dáíl, Tánaiste Simon Harris addressed the culture community stating that the Government wants to support local communities who “depend on a vibrant cultural sector”.
He said that he has asked his officials, in conjunction with the Department of Culture, to “review the tax treatment of theatre production costs” and supports for the wider night-time economy.
This announcement comes against a background of a growing campaign amongst the Irish theatre community which is seeking a targeted fiscal incentive for the sector.
Inspired by the UK’s Theatre Tax Relief scheme and Ireland’s own Section 481 Film Tax Credit, arts organisations represented by The Performing Arts Forum (PAF) published a policy briefing on the potential incentives in recent months.
Calling it an Irish performing arts tax credit, the forum believes that an incentive would “strengthen Ireland’s performing arts sector and support long term growth”.
Members of the PAF, which includes The Abbey Theatre and National Opera House, believe that rather than replacing public investment, a Performing Arts Tax Credit would complement existing funding.
It would encourage greater production activity, attract private investment, support employment and help Irish work reach a wider audience.
The Minister for Finance said that a €100 Culture Card for 16-year-olds was still being worked on after it did not make the final cut for Budget 2027.
Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan will outline plans for his department in more detail over the coming days and commentators will be watching for any reference to the voucher initiative.
Social Democrats spokesperson for Culture, Sinéad Gibney, responded to the Budget announcement saying that it is “not good enough that the arts are used for a cheap headline, but when it comes to actual investment, people are yet again left disappointed”.
The Dublin Rathdown TD added that the “reality is that this Government has failed to delivery any meaningful increase to funding for the arts in this Budget”.
Meanwhile, the Arts Council has welcomed the €2.5m increase in funding, with chairperson Maura McGrath saying that it was “significant” with the council entering its 75th year.
Ms McGrath described the increase as “a continuation of that living legacy, in which Government places arts and culture at the centre of Irish life”.
Regional film producers ‘disappointed’
Film producers in the mid-west have said that they are “disappointed” that the Budget does not include a regional uplift for film and television production.
Television and film industry figures, including David Puttnam writing an open letter to The Irish Times, had been campaigning for “a regional tax incentive” to encourage productions to locate outside Dublin and Wicklow because production remains heavily concentrated in the east of the country.
Film in Limerick warned that “the loss of the incentive was slowing momentum in regional production hubs”.
Paul C Ryan, Regional Film Manager at Film in Limerick, said that a “long-term regional uplift would help us attract further productions, create more employment and grow the sector sustainably”.
The mid-west region has emerged as one of Ireland’s significant developing production centres, with Troy Studios providing a major anchor for the region and a growing network of producers, crew, suppliers, training providers and creative businesses supporting production activity.
However, producers say that without a regional incentive, the additional costs and logistical challenges associated with filming outside the established Dublin/Wicklow production base can make it difficult for regional locations to compete for productions.
