Arts sector harassment and governance
Deputy Kelleher criticised the arts and cultural sector’s delayed response to sexual harassment and raised governance concerns about national cultural institutions and agencies. The Tánaiste said the statement was welcome, existing governance rules were strong, and the focus must be on implementation, monitoring and reporting.
The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has announced a number of measures to tackle sexual harassment and abuse of power in the workplace in the arts and cultural sector because of recent pronouncements. The organisations only recently co-signed a statement condemning sexual harassment and abuses of power in theatres. To say the least, it is bizarre that it took so long for them to come to heel in that respect.
Regarding the boards of the national cultural institutions, agencies will now only be asked to attend governance workshops. Given the broader remit of the Government in funding State agencies, will the Government conduct a trawl of those that are directly or indirectly funding other entities to ensure that they have proper governance structures and anti-bullying and anti-sexual harassment protocols in place?
Comment on this
I welcome the fact that a statement has been signed by the cultural institutions. They are already bound by strong governance protocols. The key point is to ensure that those are implemented. As I told Deputy Howlin, ongoing monitoring and reporting mechanisms are necessary. We have strong rules on board membership and the role of directors and the new Charities Regulator will ensure that there is proper governance in the NGO sector. Governance issues have emerged in the charity sector and State agencies in recent times. The rules are there, but their implementation and monitoring require focus.