My future Irish citizenship in great peril

Ireland's artists called on the government to protect tax breaks that have lured struggling writers and musicians to its shores but that critics say unfairly help big earners get richer, Reuters reported. The plan, which has been in place since 1969, is among a raft of tax incentives being reviewed by the finance ministry ahead of December's budget. Critics of the plan, which is intended to promote the creative arts, are angry that wealthy artists like U2, Enya and Roddy Doyle are exempted, and they point out that half the income involved is earned by 2% of the artists. But Mary Cloake, the director of the Irish Arts Council, which is calling for the plan's retention, said struggling artists were the biggest beneficiaries. The average 2001 earnings of the bottom 50% of those helped by the plan, she said, were about $6,200. Ms. Cloake warned that the abolition of the tax shelter would result in a "brain drain" of artists out of the country and "cost Ireland a generation of new and emerging artists."