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

It is over ten years. The title says 2040 but it the plan is for a ten-year period.

The 2019 work programme included many highlights, such as the exhibition on the First Dáil, which was opened by the Ceann Comhairle on 17 January. The National Museum of Ireland's strategic plan for 2019 to 2022 was launched in early March, and an exhibition by the Down-based artist Alison Lowry, which was an artistic response to the Tuam mother and baby home, the Magdalen laundries, and domestic violence, was also launched in March. As part of the Traveller's Journey exhibition, the Department of Education and Skills has collaborated with our colleagues in the folk life curatorial team to launch an installation entitled "Camp", which will include work created by students from Limerick School of Art and Design and communities of Travellers in the west of Ireland, and will be displayed in the Museum of Country Life. Other exhibitions include the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition and the rural electrification exhibition, which was launched on 11 July. It is a very exciting programme and other progress is happening in 2019 as well. The physical developments across the site over the next 15 years will be underpinned by three principles: protection, which includes providing the best conditions for the care of its collections, as well as access for education and research; safeguarding, that is, ensuring that all National Museum of Ireland sites are safe and secure as collections for the public; and accessibility, which means making the sites, exhibitions and interpretations fully accessible for all our people.

The Deputy asked about the audiovisual action plan and Screen Ireland. We have a ten-year audiovisual action plan with funding of €200 million under Project Ireland 2040, which will support the development of the industry. I agree with the Deputy's sentiment about making Ireland somewhere special for the film industry. The section 481 film tax relief has been extended and there has been a regional uplift of 5%, which is important. I know from talking to film industry representatives from other jurisdictions that space is a big issue for them. That is an area in which the regional uplift will be transformative and will also have economic benefits for local people. There is huge demand for the facilities at Troy Studios in Limerick, for example, and we can do more in that regard. The action plan contained eight policy recommendations, including oversight of the industry by the steering group; the section 481 film tax relief; strategic review of feature film funding; skills development; regulatory reform; and marketing and other reforms. They are all important issues. The skills development programme through Screen Skills Ireland is a new initiative that was set up in response to some of the submissions the film industry has made in that regard. There will also be a skills assessment for the section 481 tax credit relief. We have ongoing engagement with all stakeholders about project finance, which ultimately aims to attract international audiovisual projects to Ireland. All those initiatives are in line with the Department's audiovisual action plan. There is much exciting work going on in the film industry, and we continue to keep in close contact with stakeholders in order that we can work collaboratively together for everyone's benefit.

The Deputy's last question related to centenaries. He and I have spoken in the Dáil about the decade of centenaries on a number of occasions. This year I allocated €1.1 million to support the programme, which is a funding increase of €250,000 on the 2018 allocation. That is a positive. I will seek to continue to appropriately resource the programme over the coming period through the normal budgetary process. We are reviewing the funding requirements in the context of the development of the commemorative programme in line with the advice from the expert advisory committee. I thank members for their efforts and participation in the all-party Oireachtas committee, which is of assistance in developing that programme.

We have given money to local authorities, as the Deputy mentioned. That is important, because local people want to commemorate events in their own areas and counties, apart from the full State ceremonial events. It was very important that we marked that and allocated money to the local authorities to do what they wanted to commemorate different events. We doubled the 2018 funding; therefore that €10,000 is double what it was previously. We also provided €10,000 to Soloheadbeg in Tipperary, where I attended an event myself. The focus in 2019 has mainly been on larger national events, such as the centenary of the First Dáil. Last year was also a significant year for women's suffrage and the first woman being elected. I announced the Markievicz bursaries through my Department in recognition of that, and there was also a pop-up museum. However, I note the Deputy's comments.