The circus will for the first time be recognised as an art form entitled to State funding, due to an amendment to the Arts Bill 2002 which was passed at committee stage yesterday.
The inclusion of the circus in the definition of "arts" in the legislation was passed by the Joint Committee on Arts, Sport, Tourism, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs.
The amendment was introduced yesterday by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr John O'Donoghue, who said he had always been a great lover of the circus, adding that "some say it is the reason I went into politics, but it's not."
Mr O'Donoghue said he was pleased to put forward the amendment to include the circus as an art form in the Bill.
"It may be a dying art form but it needs resuscitating," he said.
He said he sincerely hoped that the official recognition of it as an art form would help ensure the continuity of circuses in all of our lives.
"As much as the circus mesmerises the young, it enthrals the old," he added.