Northern Ireland's Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Mr Michael McGimpsey, told an Assembly committee yesterday that jobs could be put at risk due to budgetary considerations.
Announcing his department's budget for the incoming financial year, he said the budget was being held at virtually the same level as in the 1999-2000 financial year and would not increase in line with inflation.
"I need the money to do the job," Mr McGimpsey told the Assembly's Culture, Arts and Leisure Committee. "At a time when we should be moving forward with confidence, there is a danger that under-resourcing will constrain valuable programmes. Holding the sector at almost the same level as the current year means that, when inflation is taken into account, cuts will have to be absorbed.
"Activities might have to be curbed . . . This lack of funding cannot be allowed to continue and I am determined to do all I can to ensure that in future years my department gets a better deal."
In a statement, the chairman of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Prof Brian Walker, said he was disappointed.
"This year the Arts Council received revenue requests totalling £9 million but an allocation from government of £6.89 million. We try to acknowledge arts in Northern Ireland but this has been made very difficult by a continued squeeze on public funding."
He repeated the Minister's concern at the possible effect the funding would have on jobs. "Organisations we fund at this time of the year are the lifeblood of the arts here . . . They are employers, they are training grounds for high achievement in all forms of the arts, and they are the organisations which tell nothing but good news about Northern Ireland to the rest of the world. They deserve funding which is at least adequate to their value in our society."
Among the allocations made by Mr McGimpsey were £7.461 million to the arts sector, £10.153 million to museums, £22.445 million to libraries, £5.075 million to the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland, £2.286 million to sport and £2.303 million to the NorthSouth language body.