Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will try to answer all of the Chairman's questions, but if I miss any, I ask him to remind me at the end. He referred to the film industry in general and we have spoken about it in the Dáil by way of parliamentary questions. At the moment, according to the Olsberg report, there are approximately 12,000 whole-time equivalent jobs in the audiovisual sector and the sector is worth approximately €1.1 billion to the economy.

I have said that I intend to reform the Per Cent for Art scheme and a proposal in that regard is currently under consideration. It is clear that the existing €64,000 project limit should be revisited. At the moment, the scheme provides financial support for art works and thresholds are in place, namely, 1% up to €2.55 million, up to a maximum of €25,500, and then they go up incrementally. I am looking at revising those limits to double the level of financial support, broadly speaking. I am also looking at establishing a new, higher contribution for the largest projects. We are also looking at improving data collection and re-establishing the interdepartmental committee to improve the flow of information in the context of harmonisation and the implementation of the scheme. I have not finally decided exactly how much will be involved but the point made by the Deputy is important. The scheme is useful from an aesthetic perspective, as well as helping artists. I intend to revise the scheme as soon as possible.

Reference was made to museums in general. We have a digitisation fund under the National Development Plan, NDP, of approximately €10 million. Some of that funding has been used for projects. On the mobility of our collections, while funding is available for local and regional galleries and museums, there are costs associated with transport. I believe the Chairman's father was involved with the National Museum of Ireland so he will be aware of the difficulties that face museums in terms of transporting pieces from the national collections to and from the institution, including the costs of insurance while they are being transported and the costs of exhibiting pieces. Just to go back a bit, in the context of the digitisation of collections, the Chester Beatty Library is a good example. There was a poor uptake of the mobility of collections scheme in 2016. In fact, there was only one applicant so the allocation was reduced for 2017. In that year, only four projects were supported from seven applications. The remaining three were not fully eligible. The funding, based on demand, is there and was held at €25,000 for 2018. A total of €9,122 was awarded to three projects under the scheme in 2018. Given the declining demand for this scheme, consideration is being given to a reduced allocation in 2019. As with anything else, if it is under-utilised, it is difficult to secure funding for it. I appreciate the comments that the Chairman made on the scheme-----