Just published in Verbal Magazine.

Ireland has a reputation as a land where artists can thrive. Often, Ireland don’t deserve that reputation. I believe it makes long term economic, social, and cultural sense to ensure we keep funding the arts in Ireland for two reasons. First, the arts are an end in themselves; they mature us as a society, they provoke us, enthral us, and, at their best, the arts hold a mirror to the nation.
The arts are like healthcare. Healthcare provisions in Ireland are inefficient, expensive, and the true benefits are seldom seen, but if we take state provision of healthcare away, it is obvious society as a whole will suffer. This is because healthcare has lots of positive spillovers—healthy people enjoy life more, are more productive, and make society wealthier than sick people. Infectious disease control, for example, helps everyone in society, because it reduces the likelihood of everyone else getting sick. The government pays to build and run a hospital, not for a profit, but because, in the end, it is the only one who can afford to provide a service that no-one could possibly profit from, such as disease control.
The arts have a similar role as a pure public good. Great art enhances our lives indirectly, even though we don’t directly pay for the art ourselves. Ordinary people can’t afford a Carravaggio: they couldn’t afford to pay him to paint a picture, nor could they afford to keep the picture in the correct manner. The government can. We all benefit when we see great works displayed. It makes our lives richer, and the paintings of the masters don’t go away: we can keep them for centuries if we are careful. The arts represent a long-term investment in the cultural and economic health of the nation.
Which brings me to my second reason for urging for continued support for the arts: it makes economic sense. Ireland is the land of WB (and JB) Yeats, of Patrick Kavanagh, of James Joyce, of Brendan Kennelly and even Celia Ahern. Millions of people come each year to visit the places these writers took inspiration from. They don’t bring sandwiches. Tourists spend millions in Ireland every year, bringing revenue to, and creating jobs in, one of the most labour-intensive sectors—the hotel and catering industries, which together employ more people than the civil service.

Read the rest of this piece on the Ireland in 2050 blog.