Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and the Ministers of State for their insightful overview of expenditure. I will focus on the arts and the Creative Ireland programme, which is wonderful to see. I have attended two of the Minister's workshops which are moving around the country, both in Monaghan and Cavan, and I compliment her on it. It has been wonderful to see the engagement with local communities from all walks of life, both professional and amateur, and she has managed to encompass the visual, literary and performance elements.

As for the expenditure of the €5 million, how much has been spent so far? Have the workshops that were being held nationwide taken place in each local authority? What is that costing, including the promotion of the Creating Ireland programme? The programme has five specific pillars and the one of huge interest to me is education. There is one on community, one on cultural and creative infrastructure, one on media and one on global reputation.

Will the Minister provide a breakdown of the expenditure on these five pillars for the coming 12 months? How does she intend to divide the funding between each pillar? Are there priorities among the five pillars or will they all receive the same amount? How much will each local authority receive to implement the Creative Ireland programme? A pilot scheme of the local arts in education partnership took place in Cavan and Monaghan. I have always advocated that the idea and ethos of partnership could work very well with local authorities and the 16 education and training boards, ETBs. We have discussed the idea of funding local arts in education partnerships on numerous occasions. Does this come under Creative Ireland? If so, will there be 16 local education partnerships and how much will they receive?