2026-01-20

143. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he is concerned by the lack of space for arts and culture in Dublin city centre; the efforts, if any, and his plans to support a space for arts and culture in the area in light of recent developments affecting The Complex venue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4121/26]

I thank the Deputy for raising this. The provision of local arts centres is a matter in the first instance for the relevant local authority. County and city development plans are drawn up by local authorities, including the policy objectives for development of the arts. Annual support, including programming and revenue supports, is provided to the arts and culture centres by local authorities and the Arts Council. My Department provides grants as a contribution towards maintaining and enhancing existing arts and culture infrastructure but does not provide funding for the purchase of buildings. The Complex had been leasing its building from a private landlord on a site ringfenced for redevelopment. Officials from my Department met with the chair of The Complex and other members of the team in December 2024 and advised them that the Department was not in a position to fund the purchase of the property. Further communication in June 2025 reiterated that position. More recently, The Complex kept the Department updated of the evolving situation with its tenancy and I am aware that they were in close contact with Dublin City Council during this time. I regret that a solution could not be found with the developer to keep them in their current building, and I understand the council is now supporting them in sourcing alternative accommodation. Separately, my Department is engaged with Dublin City Council on the potential transfer of part of the site of the Digital Hub in the Liberties area of Dublin to the local authority. I have requested that the city council consider whether any of the activities which are currently conducted at The Complex could in time be facilitated in the Digital Hub complex. The Department would be happy to work with the city council on any proposals, including consideration of whether any of the Department’s funding schemes could be of assistance in this regard. More broadly, the Department has allocated €3 million in funding to Space to Create, an initiative that aims to provide up to 60 artist workspaces in Dublin city, and these projects are currently being progressed in partnership with the city council. In addition, under the artist workspace scheme, €6 million capital funding is available for local authorities to increase the provision of artist workspaces across Ireland. In December 2025, I announced just under €1 million for five local authorities for the development of up to 22 workspaces, which brings the total awarded under this scheme to date at €1.2 million.

It is concerning that there is no strategy for the arts spaces infrastructure and that we do not have an arts capital fund such as the sports capital fund and at that scale to address what is happening around the country, not just in Dublin, where large and small arts venues are closing. Many of those arts centres are in buildings that are semi-derelict or in precarious rental agreements. When the money comes for development of apartments or the like they are the first to go. Given our reputation as a country that supports the arts, it is important to not just depend on local authorities but to go beyond that. The State has to step up to increase the funding available to venues such as The Complex, which hosted quite a lot of artists over the years. It was open for 18 years and had music, art and theatre under the one roof. It was an eclectic place to be in and I encourage the Minister to look again not just at The Complex but at the strategy around arts infrastructure.

We have been looking at a strategy with regard to arts infrastructure. We may be bring forward an arts capital scheme similar to the sports capital scheme we administer. To reiterate, we have offered Dublin City Council properties to look at that have wound up in the charge of the Department through the Digital Hub in the Liberties. I would say you could puck a ball from the Digital Hub to where The Complex was. I hope Dublin City Council will engage with it. These buildings were previously offered to the city council for other uses, and it refused them. The Office of Public Works has part of the buildings taken. We will try to do whatever we can. We do not acquire buildings. We do not buy buildings. The only agencies that buy buildings publicly for the State are either councils - the largest one is Dublin City Council, which is the best resourced and best financed in the country - or the Office of Public Works. I put that on the record of the House before. If Dublin City Council wants to look at properties we have wound up with, we will be happy to engage with it to see if alternative accommodation could be sourced.

I will not get into the finances of Dublin City Council and the problem that most of the funding that is meant to go to Dublin City Council sometimes does not end in Dublin City Council especially when you take into consideration the property tax that disappears out of Dublin. Having said that, I was not necessarily asking that at this stage that the Department purchase The Complex. However, there is a need that a greater fund be available, not just for Dublin City Council, but also for Galway council. There are other areas around the country that have identified sites. Dublin City Council will reluctantly take on buildings. It has a good strategy, but most of the buildings that have been offered to it require a substantial amount of investment to bring them up to modern standards. That is one of the problems with Dublin City Council. I know well the buildings the Minister is talking about in the Digital Hub. I know the costs to bring them up to a modern standard. They have been used up to recently by the National College of Art and Design. It would satisfy one part of what The Complex is doing but not all of it and it is not the only venue that closed in this city in the past couple of years.

I will not get into the finances of Dublin City Council either. Suffice to say, and the Deputy knows this probably better than I do, that it is one of a few local authorities in the country that has consistently reduced their property tax over the number of years. If it can afford to do that, maybe it could afford to see. While there is money coming out of the council-----

It has not reduced it this year.

-----going to places like Leitrim and Sligo, I am sure Deputy Martin Kenny would be very upset with Deputy Ó Snodaigh suggesting the money should not be going to Sligo and Leitrim from Dublin City Council.

It is going from the Government.

I am not going to lecture a former member of Dublin City Council on the reduction of the rates in Dublin City Council-----

I was never a Dublin city councillor.

-----either commercial or housing. Suffice to say, I welcome the opportunity for Dublin City Council to engage with us on the property we do own. The Office of Public Works owns quite a considerable amount as well. It cannot just throw its hands up in the air and say this is all the Government's fault and problem. If we are coming forward with alternative accommodation the least it could do is engage with us. Yes, it will require money, but it is the wealthiest local authority in the country, and it should invest in the arts on that basis.