Irish arts minister resigns, prompting fears for culture department
Irish arts minister Martin Cullen has been forced to resign due to ill health, prompting fears that his department could be dismantled in a government reshuffle later this month.
Cullen, aged 56, who has held the arts portfolio for just under two years, has been crippled by chronic back pain following a road accident in which he suffered a broken neck. He has now decided to quit both his ministry and parliament to avail of intensive medical treatment.
With two ministers having resigned earlier for personal issues, Taoiseach Brian Cowen now has three vacancies to fill and has indicated he intends to use the reshuffle to reorganise departments. This has been taken as a signal that a separate arts ministry could be abolished, as was suggested by economist Colm McCarthy in his infamous cost-cutting report.
“Of course we’re concerned that could happen,” says Tania Banotti of the Irish Theatre Forum, who was recently given an award for her role in fighting the McCarthy cuts. “It would be a very retrograde step and would leave us the only EU country without a separate arts minister. We’ve made representations to government and hope they will listen.”
Ironically, Cullen had won plaudits from the Irish arts community for speaking out forcefully against the proposed McCarthy cutbacks. “I disagree fundamentally with them,” he said, pointing out that the cultural and creative sectors formed the most dynamic parts of the struggling Irish economy.
In a tribute to the former minister, Arts Council chair Pat Moylan recalled the stand he had taken. “I am sorry to see him go,” she said. “Minister Cullen has been a real friend of the Arts Council during his tenure. He saw the potential of the arts as Ireland’s greatest shopfront to the world and was a forceful advocate for smart investment in the arts. We wish him well with his future medical treatments and hope he will be able to return to better health in time.”
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