Sinn Féin want to empower artists and arts workers. We want to protect Dublin’s cultural spaces. And we want to enhance cultural participation across our city and county.
Arts, Sport & Culture:
Without painters and dancers, performers and musicians, writers and storytellers - there is nothing on stage or on screen; nothing on the walls of our galleries, no public art on our streets and nothing in print. Yet the people who make art can barely make a life in Dublin right now.
We will protect cultural spaces and theatres from investor-led apart-hotels and luxury student accommodation. We will address the acute shortage and urgent need for artist work spaces in Dublin, where there is an office vacancy rate of 17% and rising.
Dublin has the best pubs in the world, but decades of bad policy has led to a 75% decline in nightclubs and dance spaces in Dublin since the turn of the millennium. Nightclubs are essential to the culture of Dublin, to the night-time economy, and to visual artists, technicians, and music practitioners. They need urgent local and national support.
We will support meanwhile use activities, many of which are already taking place in Dublin, but are operating outside planning law. They include innovative arts and cultural spaces that deserve legal certainty.
Our vision for Dublin includes:
Supporting artists and arts workers by increasing Arts Council funding by €20 million in 2025 and developing a permanent scheme when the current Basic Income for Artists pilot comes to an end.
Developing a pilot programme in conjunction with Local Authorities and the Arts Council to deliver public housing with appropriate studio space for cultural workers.
Delivering the vision for Moore Street as set out by the Moore Street Preservation Trust.
Investing in publicly owned artist workspaces to finally sort out the shortage of appropriate artist workspaces.
Ensuring that planning laws and local development plans protect existing cultural spaces and make room for more.
Recognising the importance and value of nightlife to the people of Dublin by modernising opening hours, licensing laws and associated costs.
Exempting public art and murals from planning legislation in certain circumstances.
Protecting and supporting local bookshops as important cultural spaces.
