I am grateful to the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, for taking this Topical Issue. It concerns introduction of a youth culture card which, as the Minister of State will be aware, we have committed to in the programme for Government. I championed this in terms of our manifesto at the general election. This is something we believe is critical to ensure young people have access to the arts, cultural events and cultural activities. This is supported strongly by the National Youth Council of Ireland and by many youth organisations. In many ways, Covid denied many young people access to those cultural events which formed part of our lives. For those of us who had fun growing up, we remember going to our first big concert, first gig or first play. It is important we look to recognise young people's access to those activities. It is also important for arts venues to ensure they grow young audiences and attract young people, whether it is to the theatre, concerts or other cultural activities. We note that a number of countries, particularly post Covid, have introduced such schemes. They cover a wide variety of areas but I will give a number of examples. In Spain, where they have a youth culture voucher, it is €400 for every young person aged 18. Of that €400, €200 can be spent on live arts, culture, heritage and audiovisual arts, €100 can be spent on physical cultural goods such as art materials, and €100 can be spent on digital or online subscriptions. Subscriptions to newspapers or magazines could be part of our youth culture card. At a time when we face all sorts of questions about digital literacy and people understanding the importance of trust in news sources, encouraging young people to subscribe to newspapers would be positive. In France, where they have the pass Culture, every 18-year-old gets a €300 voucher which allows access to cinemas, museums, theatres, concerts, books, art courses, art materials or, indeed, the purchase of musical instruments. There is a similar scheme in Italy - the culture bonus card. In Germany, there is the KulturPass scheme. In Cyprus, quite interestingly, where there is a €220 voucher, the Republic of Cyprus makes €200 available but the Bank of Cyprus has provided €20. It could be something the State does in partnership with a financial institution. We recognise in this country the importance of cultural activities. I believe we will see theatres, arts venues and concert venues responding enthusiastically to this to try to encourage young people to come along and attend. In particular, it is important for us to recognise that, coming out of the Covid period, we need to encourage more young people to attend those venues. The previous Government did an awful lot of good work in the arts, such as the basic income scheme for the arts and significant increases in Arts Council funding. This is about building audiences, especially young audiences. The youth culture card has been committed to in the programme for Government and I hope we can move toward it in budget 2026.

Sentiment score: 0.28

I thank the Minister of State for his kind words. It was a privilege and pleasure to work with him on the previous arts committee in a very collaborative way. I hope the new arts and culture committee will look at this commitment in the programme for Government as a priority. It is welcome that the Minister has indicated that his Department will carry out assessments as to how this culture card will operate in practice. I appreciate that there may be a cost to the State but that is why I also suggested that we look at Cyprus. We can look at a partnership approach. I have no doubt there would be a number of potential commercial partners interested in doing this. I acknowledge the role of the national cultural institutions. I was in the National Gallery the other day and saw its continuing programme of engaging young people but this is about so much more. It needs to be done on a regional basis throughout the country. Whether it is young people in Wicklow and Wexford, which I represent, or in Mayo, which the Minister of State represents, they need to have access within their communities to artistic facilities and venues for concerts, gigs, dance and opera. I think venues will respond very positively to that. We can learn from the experience in other European countries. As the Minister of State has outlined, considerable work is being done in other areas. This is a very strong commitment to young people and to the arts in the programme for Government. I ask that it be a priority for the committee and that the Minister agree to come before the committee in due course to outline progress on this matter, particularly in advance of the Estimates process, and give his thoughts on how this youth culture card can develop.

Sentiment score: 0.30