Ireland/ 5.2 Legislation on culture  

The Arts Act 2003 establishes the legislative framework for cultural policy-making in Ireland. This Act defines the arts, sets out the role and functions of the Minister, local authorities and the Arts Council and prescribes the membership and procedures of the latter. The Act re-endorses the autonomy of the Arts Council in funding decisions while enshrining the overarching role of the Minister in policy matters. Provision is made for the appointment of special committees by the Minister to advise the Arts Council and the Act also provides for local authority arts planning under Section 31 of the Local Government Act 1994.

While the Arts Act is overarching in terms of provision for individual artists and while it refers to film and traditional arts, it is supplemented in these areas by other pieces of legislation, described in chapter 5.3.3, chapter 5.3.4 and chapter 5.3.6 to 5.3.7.

Table 1:     List of the existing cultural legislation

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