Ireland's spending on recreation and culture is lower than in any other industrialised nation, according to a new report.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Factbook 2006 found that combined Government and household expenditure on recreation and culture in Ireland is the lowest of 23 states, at 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). This compares with Iceland (9 per cent), Britain (8.4 per cent), France (6 per cent), the Czech Republic (7.2 per cent) and Finland (6.6 per cent).
Comparing the amount spent on recreation and culture by households across 29 countries, the report concluded that only Mexicans spend less than the Irish, while consumers in Britain spend twice as much.
In most countries, the figures are fairly stable at about 5 per cent of GDP over the past decade. Exceptions are Norway, New Zealand, the US, Britain and Greece, where household spending grew faster than average. In Ireland (2.8 per cent) and Mexico (1.9 per cent), by contrast, expenditures declined over the past 10 years.
Data on government expenditure showed that of 23 countries analysed, Ireland came fourth from the bottom, with the Government spending only 0.5 per cent of GDP on culture.
This compares with the Slovak Republic (1 per cent), Spain (1.3 per cent) and Iceland (2.8 per cent), while only the governments of Japan (0.2 per cent), the US (0.3 per cent) and Greece (0.4 per cent) spent less than the Irish Government.
In general, percentages of GDP spent on these areas correlate with per capita income - the richer the country, the higher the percentage expenditure on culture and recreation. Ireland is "a striking exception" to that rule, the report notes. "Ireland [ rich] spends relatively little on recreation and culture while the Czech Republic [ poor]spends a rather higher share," it states.
The analysts' definition of recreation and culture was wide-ranging and did not distinguish between both categories. It included computers, CDs and DVDs, sports equipment, toys, cinema, theatre tickets and newspapers, but excluded expenditure on restaurants and travel (except package holidays).
Senator Derek McDowell (Labour)said the findings reflected the Government's failure to invest in sports and cultural facilities.