Mr. Feargal Ó Coigligh:

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúil don choiste as deis a thabhairt dúinn bheith i láthair inniu chun labhairt leis faoi chlár Éire Ildánach, maoiniú an chláir agus an dul chun cinn atá déanta go dtí seo.

I am assistant secretary for the culture division of the Department, which includes the Creative Ireland programme. I am accompanied by Ms Tania Banotti, director of the programme, and Ms Sinéad Copeland, principal officer. I am also accompanied by Mr. Eamonn Moran and Mr. Daniel Kearns from the Department of Education and Skills, which is a key partner Department in the programme. I will make some introductory remarks and then hand over to my colleague, Ms Banotti.

The Creative Ireland programme is a five-year, all of Government, culture-based initiative that emphasises the importance of human creativity for individual, community and national well-being. That is what it is but what does the programme actually do? Led from within the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the programme is fundamentally a collaborative effort involving Departments, Government and non-Government agencies, local government, voluntary groups, as well as academic and cultural organisations to develop, encourage and facilitate initiatives and policies that enable participation in creative activity at all stages of life. The job of the programme is not to duplicate the work of the Arts Council or the Heritage Council or any other body but to work together across various policy areas to bring innovation and co-ordination to a range of important initiatives, ultimately serving citizens in a better way. Bodies such as the Arts Council and the Heritage Council and local authorities are important partners, particularly in the roll-out of the Creative Schools and community-based initiatives.

Ms Tania Banotti, who took up her role as the director of the programme in June, will give the committee a short overview of progress across some of the key initiatives of the Creative Ireland programme as we head towards the end of its second year. The first year, 2017, presented a learning opportunity for the Department to build new relationships and explore new policy areas, and we initiated a number of very important initiatives. In 2018, with an allocation of €6 million, we are progressing these initiatives and adding to them. We are starting to embed important strategic relationships across Government and looking to the longer-term impact of some of the work of the programme. It should be noted that a further allocation of €1.15 million has been provided for the programme in 2019 to bring funding up to €7.15 million in a full year. I should also point out in relation to funding that the Department is anxious to ensure maximum transparency and publishes a detailed breakdown under all funding heads on its website. We circulated a document giving details of this year's expenditure to the committee in advance of the meeting. I will now hand over to Ms Tania Banotti.