ARTS COUNCIL NORTHERN IRELAND

That this House notes that the Arts Council for Northern Ireland has been asked to plan for a budget cut of approximately £1.1 million in 2010-11 and that the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure, which is the Arts Council's parent department, is itself set to lose £25.9 million, making it in proportional terms the second hardest hit of Northern Ireland's government departments; is concerned that the anticipated financial cuts will cause irreparable damage to the sector, and consequently to the region's prosperity as a whole; regrets that as a direct result of decades of chronic under-funding, the arts infrastructure in Northern Ireland is extremely fragile and that the arts continue to be significantly under-funded on a per capita basis in Northern Ireland when compared with other regions of the United Kingdom; believes that the arts have an important role to play in building a new Northern Ireland and are part of a wider process of social, political and economic change; and therefore urges the Government to maintain essential funding for the arts as part of the broader agenda to strengthen the whole of the UK's competitive advantage in the creative industries.