It says a lot about the way we look at the world. In the immediate aftermath of the Cabinet reshuffle, there was one thing on which everyone seemed to agree. Mary Hanafin had been demoted. As the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, the political commentators said, she was one of the Government’s better performers. And this is the thanks she gets! By appointing her to the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism – rebranded as the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport – the consensus was that Brian Cowen had placed her beside the trap door. It was the next best thing to a sacking.

In fact over the preceding months – since the publication of the McCarthy report – a relentless campaign had been waged suggesting that the Department would and should be abolished. Why was this happening? Well, one conclusion you might come to is that politics in this country – and I’m talking here about the pol corrs, economic commentators and editorial writers as much as the aparatchiks – is the domain of a bunch of philistines, who are so wrapped up in their own solipsistic little bubble that they don’t read, listen to music, go to the theatre or a movie or otherwise engage their imaginations from one end of the year to the other.
It’d be funny if it weren’t such an accurate reflection of the extent to which the political classes in Ireland are divorced from the things that matter to people. They think the Minister for Defence has a more important role than the Minister for the Sports. That the Minister for the Gaeltacht and Rural Affairs has a more important role than the Minister for Tourism. That the Minister for Communications has a more important role than the Minister for Culture.
Nonsense. The reality is that, in terms of public interest and involvement, even separately the areas of Tourism, Sport and Culture are of huge national importance. Together, they make up one of the most vibrant areas of activity and enterprise in Ireland. Together they also represent an area in which there is tangible and immediate economic opportunity.
Now, I have no idea what Brian Cowen was thinking when he did his very modest bit of reshuffling. There have been suggestions that he had intended to hand the TCS portfolio to his friend Mary Coughlan, but that she resisted and that Mary Hanafin was subsequently the one who got what was deemed to be the short straw. This might even be true.
But I’ll tell you what he should have been thinking: that if we can frame the right policies in a department that encompasses arts, sport and tourism we can achieve an immediate, positive uplift that will re-invigorate the economy. That this can be among the most important engines for national recovery over the next five years. That it is an area in which jobs and value can be created relatively inexpensively. That it is something we are good at. And therefore, that it is important to put someone of real calibre into the role. Maybe this is what he was thinking: because no one disputes that Mary Hanafin has consistently proven herself to be among the brightest and most capable of the Fianna Fáil front-bench.
Things are not good in any area of the economy right now. In terms of bad news stories, the decision of one of Ireland’s leading and internationally successful architectural practices, Murray Ó Laoire to close, at the cost of over 120 jobs, is a reflection of the extent of the crisis. Certainly there are things that can, and should, be done to mitigate the disastrous consequences of the collapse of the building industry and to protect businesses and workers in the broader construction sector, including architectural practices. But turning that situation, and others like it, around will inevitably be expensive. In contrast, it is possible to intervene in the area of tourism and the arts, and thereby create jobs, very cost-effectively.
Over the next few issues Hot Press, will explore the potential initiatives in greater detail. But the first question facing the incoming Minister has to be: how can we, even over the next six months, turn things around to attract new visitors to Ireland? It is Fáilte Ireland’s job to do the marketing. But what new ideas can be triggered to make their job easier? More than ever, there is a need for originality, for dynamism, for lateral thinking, and for open-mindedness in our approach.
In relation to tourism and culture, the Department doesn’t operate in isolation. The Department of Justice is responsible for the licensing laws, which control a huge number of activities in the music, entertainment and hospitality industries. The Department of Finance is in the driving seat in relation to tax incentives, including the artist’s exemption. The Department of Transport is in charge of aviation policy, which has the potential to impact greatly on tourism numbers. And the Department of Communications is involved in framing policies in relation to both telecommunications and broadcasting, which impinge directly on creative activities in film, television, music and related industries.
Unfortunately, in some at least of these areas, we have been busy pursuing policies and enacting legislation that are bad for the arts, for culture and for tourism. The apparent hostility in the media, and to an extent within the public service – and indeed among the opposition parties – to the Department itself springs from a deeply rooted cynicism about the idea that people involved in the arts or in the creative industries are in fact doing real work at all. There is a need, therefore, for a very persuasive form of advocacy coming from the Department, based on the conviction that this is not just real work, it is work of real national importance.
One of the first objectives has to be to make Ireland an attractive place for younger tourists again. How many hotels around Ireland are currently in danger of going out of business? How many restaurants, bars and clubs are experiencing difficulties? How many visitor attractions are likely to suffer? In Hot Press, talking to people on the ground all over Ireland, we know the extent of the crisis in these areas. But in relation to most of the businesses involved – and the potential loss of jobs – the worst can be averted if we move quickly and effectively.
Ireland is known throughout the world as source of great music. In Van Morrison, U2, Enya, The Corrs, Glen Hansard, Damien Rice and Snow Patrol (among dozens more) – and encompassing the great sweep of Irish traditional and folk music – we have produced artists, songs and tunes that have captured the imagination of people all over the world. We have festivals to match the best in Europe. We have a reputation for throwing good parties and knowing how to enjoy ourselves. But the truth is that in recent years we have become victims of a new puritan orthodoxy, which treats the desire to enjoy things as somehow corrupt or venal, a modern-day, bureaucratic variation on the traditional idea of sin.
The fact is that when visitors come to Ireland to connect with all of the creative magic for which we are renowned, from Oscar Wilde to Laura Izibor, too often they are greeted by a Calvinist rigidity and restrictiveness, rather than a place that is open, celebratory and fun to be in. We have successfully made Ireland a far less attractive place for visitors, especially younger ones.
Compare Dublin, as an important European city, to Barcelona, Berlin, London or Prague. In terms of the experience it offers to people in their twenties and early thirties, who are interested in music, culture, entertainment and clubbing – we are not even remotely attractive anymore. And the same applies to Cork, Galway or Limerick. We need to change this. And so the first place to begin is in relation to the licensing laws, which kill Irish nightlife stone dead at 2.30am.
The Department of Justice may frame the licensing laws in this area, but they are not in charge of national economic policy and so they shouldn’t be allowed to create obstacles to re-energising our cities. It will take a tough Minister to take them on. But take them on Mary Hanafin should.
More on all of this next issue…