A cost-benefit analysis should be carried out to prove once and for all the intrinsic benefit of the artists tax-exemption scheme and to stop "scaring the bejaysus" out of the poorer section of the artistic community.
Green Party TD Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid-West) made the call as Minister for the Arts John O'Donoghue said that "tinkering with the scheme will achieve very little in the final analysis".
Mr O'Donoghue said the scheme "sends out a very positive image of arts in Ireland and of artists working in Ireland. Its introduction was imaginative and innovative. It portrays the country internationally as one which nurtures the arts."
He told the Dáil that "for most artists, the question of milking the system or making vast dividends from the scheme simply do not arise. Earnings in the arts, unfortunately, are low and the issue facing most artists is that of economic survival. It is clear that most of those benefiting under the scheme are low earners."
Mr Gogarty said that "personalities such as Bono, Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan and even Cecilia Ahern may earn large amounts of money in a particular calendar year but perhaps not earn money in the previous year or the year after".
He said the media tended to portray this as "money for artists rolling in on the back of State subvention".
The Green Party TD said a cost-benefit analysis would finally prove the economic benefit of the scheme and then when the "silly season" came around there would be no more stories that "are scaring the bejaysus" out of poorer artists.
Mr O'Donoghue said that 2 per cent of beneficiaries accounted for 58 per cent of the exempted income, indicating that there was a small number of people who made very large amounts of money on which they did not pay tax.
"While equity suggests that capping the scheme would correct this, much of these earnings are foreign income which simply will not come here at all if the exemption goes."
He added that essentially, "the anticipated benefits of adjusting the scheme are likely to be outweighed by the negatives".
Later Mr O'Donoghue confirmed that the only site under consideration now for the future of the Abbey is the George's Dock location.
He expects a full report from the Office of Public Works "in a matter of weeks" and that there would be an international competition for the construction of the new theatre, estimated to cost between €170 million and €180 million.
