Disagreement has arisen over the interpretation of funding cuts announced by the Irish Arts, Sport and Tourism Minister Martin Cullen. The Government has announced a reduction from €82m in 2008 to €76m in 2009. Maurice Foley, Deputy Chair of Ireland’s Arts Council, said: “we are disappointed at the 2009 allocation… which will in practice leave us with nearly €9 million or about 10% less money… than we invested in 2008”. He added that “there are also likely to be job losses… significant grant cuts are unavoidable, conditional commitments will have to be reviewed and some organisations will need funds from other sources if they are to survive”. However, the Minister said that of the €76m, €74.3m would be allocated for day-to-day and grants expenditure by the Council, compared with €77m in 2008. “This, therefore, is a 3.75% cut in current expenditure and the 3% will be found in savings in administrative costs. Thus the effective reduction… is marginal at 0.75%.” Culture Ireland, the state agency that promotes arts and culture internationally, will receive €4.7m, similar to this year’s funding.
