THE ONE-TIME Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media has undergone a name change to the Department of Culture, Communication and Sport, and opposition politicians aren’t happy that ‘Arts’ has been dropped from its name. 

It’s understood that the name change came into effect on Tuesday and it was done to shorten the name the department had under the previous administration. 

The Department is currently headed up by Minister Patrick O’Donovan from Fine Gael, who took over from the Green Party’s Catherine Martin. 

Labour Party spokesperson Rob O’Donoghue said that the rebrand symbolises the Government’s “further abandoning of artists”. 

O’Donoghue said that Ireland has had a Department of Arts since 1994 when the now President Michael D Higgins was responsible for the department. 

(The Department was called the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht for a stint before it was changed in 2020.)

A spokesperson for the Department told The Journal that it was renamed in order to “more succinctly capture” its full remit. 

“The word Culture includes the Arts and is a common term used in the title of equivalent Ministries in the EU, noting also that EU Ministers meet at the Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council.

“It should be noted that a previous format of the Department was the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht,” they further said. 

O’Donoghue added that the “shameful” move sends a “clear signal to artists that they aren’t a priority”. 

“Unfortunately we know that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have been set on abandoning the arts for some time. Arts, culture, and music are at the heart of Ireland’s identity but the sectors need structural reforms to support the people who make the industry what it is.

“Subsuming arts into merely culture will lead to a further dilution of Government attention towards the thousands of artists in Ireland who are so passionate about what they do,” the Labour Party spokesperson added.