The National Campaign for the Arts, First Music Contact and others say the figures amount to an effective cut, with the Arts Council’s record €142.5 million well short of the €160 million it sought.
The National Campaign for the Arts (NCFA) and a group of national arts resource organisations, including First Music Contact, Create, Dance Ireland and the Irish Theatre Institute, have called the arts and culture figures in Budget 2027 “deeply disappointing”. Speaking for what they say is over 55,000 artists, arts workers and arts organisations, they argue that while the budget shows minor increases on paper, the reality on the ground is an effective cut in current funding.
What the budget means for the arts
- The Arts and Culture programme rises by about 2.5% to €412.5 million, which is below the Government’s own forecast inflation rate of 3% for 2027.
- The Arts Council receives record current funding of over €142.5 million, a 1.8% (€2.5 million) increase after standstill funding since 2025, against the €180 million sought by NCFA and the €160 million sought by the Arts Council itself.
- Culture Ireland receives standstill funding.
- Arts and Culture capital funding is cut by approximately 5.6%.
- €34.4 million is committed to a full year of Basic Income for the Arts, along with an additional €3.8 million for the National Cultural Institutions.
- NCFA also describes the result as an effective cut in current funding that includes what it calls a 16% decrease to the Department.
The groups did welcome some measures, including the New Capital Investment Fund and the forthcoming rollout of the permanent Basic Income for the Arts agreed in Budget 2026, as well as Tánaiste Simon Harris’s commitment to review the tax treatment of theatre production costs. But they want guarantees that the scheme will remain permanent, rise in line with inflation and move towards statutory status. They also point out that it supports just 2,000 artists (who have yet to be contacted about when the scheme will restart since it ended months ago), so its impact is transformative but its reach is small, and without supporting the sector’s infrastructure that investment is undermined. We’ve previously looked at where the scheme falls short for Irish artists.
They also note that demand for Arts Council funding is at an all-time high, with organisations overstretched and spending hard-earned reserves, and ask why the arts are being cut when Irish arts are leading around the world and are a cornerstone of Ireland’s European Presidency programme, while the same Department is doing the opposite for sport.
For music, the context is First Music Contact’s own recent finding that pay for Irish music workers lags behind the national average. NCFA also recalls the all-party Arts Hustings it hosted in 2024, where representatives from each party committed to supporting the Basic Income for the Arts and to increasing Arts Council funding, and says “these promises seem to have been quickly abandoned”.
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Read NCFA’s full pre-budget submission for 2027 and more at ncfa.ie.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
