Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus leis na baill den choiste as an deis chun imleabhar na Meastúchán Athbhreithnithe don tSeirbhís Poiblí a chur i láthair thar ceann mo Roinne mar Aire Cultúir, Cumarsáide agus Spóirt. I welcome this opportunity to outline the 2025 financial allocations of the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport.

All of the sectors overseen by my Department play a key role in the quality of life and well-being of every citizen of Ireland, young and old, and are a key part of the fabric of how we express ourselves as individuals, as a society and as a nation. The Department’s overarching priority is to harness arts, culture, communications, media and sport to enhance our quality of life and to support a growing economy and population. To that end, €1.38 billion has been allocated to the Department in 2025 to support and develop these core and vital programme areas.

As Minister, it will be a key priority for me to support artists and the creative sectors and this will be possible through the 2025 allocation for arts and culture of €380.993 million. This funding, which my Department provides to the sector through the Arts Council, flows to support workers in the arts and the creative sectors and to make Ireland a great place to live for its citizens. The Arts Council has been allocated just over €140 million for 2025. While the council has rightly been the focus of much discussion within the joint committee and elsewhere, it is important that we do not lose sight of the vital work it does in developing and promoting the arts in Ireland.

I have previously spoken to the committee about the importance of the basic income for the arts pilot scheme. I recently extended the pilot to February 2026 to allow for further evaluation of the data submitted every six months by those participating in the scheme. The extension will give sufficient time to engage in stakeholder consultation and to evaluate the data that will provide the evidence base for Government to make decisions on the next steps, particularly in the context of the fiscal space in budget 2026. Some €35 million has been provided in 2025 to ensure that the scheme can continue for the full year.

With €8 million in funding for 2025, Culture Ireland will continue to showcase Irish talent and artistry overseas. The demand for Culture Ireland support has never been higher, demonstrating the success of Irish artists across global stages and the demand from international audiences to see their work. The Creative Ireland programme, delivered directly by my Department, partners with local authorities and many Departments and agencies in areas as diverse as climate change, education, children, health and through the shared island unit to use the power of creativity to unlock initiative and break down barriers in new and creative ways.

It will be important for me to progress the redevelopment of our national cultural institutions as key national assets. However, noting that these are mainly based in Dublin, it is also highly important to me that we support investment in the physical infrastructure of cultural and arts venues in regional locations and ensure support for a vibrant local cultural life with high-quality programming, whether that be from professional artists or local amateur dramatic societies or through the amazing work that groups like Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann undertake up and down the country. As well as anticipated funding for the ongoing capital development of the national cultural institutions in the new national development plan, NDP, there is an allocation of over €78 million to support their day-to-day activities.

In an era when traditional media are under threat, it is also important to support the Irish film and screen industry as well as broadcasters and local journalism. Screen Ireland’s allocation will exceed €40 million this year and will build on our recent successes in film, television and animation. I launched a new Scéal uplift for feature films and animated feature films in May. This will benefit the Irish film industry, Irish creative film workers and Irish cinemas, building on the success of the support already provided by section 481. I also recently spoke in the joint committee about how we can tap the potential of the gaming sector in Ireland.

The general scheme of the broadcasting (amendment) Bill, which the joint committee is examining, will improve transparency, accountability and value for money in RTÉ and TG4 and put in place a new statutory framework to support the provision of public service content by the wider media sector. I look forward to the outcome of pre-legislative scrutiny and to working together with the committee to progress the broadcasting (amendment) Bill to enactment. These Estimates provide €42 million in interim funding for RTÉ, which is linked to the delivery of its 2025-29 strategy. Some €60 million is provided for TG4 to support the provision of high-quality Irish-language audiovisual content.

Online safety for children is a Government priority and a top priority for me as Minister. It is essential we make sure children do not see illegal, harmful or inappropriate content and that they are able to safely avail of all the benefits of the online world. It is my view that robust age verification is essential for keeping children safe online. This is something I reiterated to the main social media companies when I met them recently. I am committed to working across government and with all stakeholders to ensure children and young people can be safe from harmful or illegal content online, in particular through robust age verification. We are making progress. Coimisiún na Meán’s online safety code sets out obligations for platforms to use age verification to prevent children seeing adult-only content. Along with the European Commission, an coimisiún has powers to address the risk of children seeing such content but we need to do more in this space. I am determined to make progress on this key issue and will work with other EU member states, including in the context of Ireland's Presidency of the EU next year, on effective and practical solutions that have regard to the rights of children but that also protect them from harm.

A budget of almost €329 million has been assigned to the broadcasting programme area for 2025. This will not only assist in this work but also ensure the ongoing independence and recognised integrity of our national broadcasters in a world where disinformation and generated false imagery are a growing concern.

The communications programme area has a total allocation of over €442 million. Key priorities for the Department include completing the roll-out of the national broadband plan over the coming year. Very good progress is being made on this and we are on track to deliver the deployment ahead of schedule and within budget. The forecast is now to have 66,000 more premises connected at the end of 2025 compared with the original schedule. This represents a connection rate that is two years ahead of schedule. Implementation of the digital connectivity strategy is also a priority to ensure that all premises in the State have access to gigabit broadband by the end of 2028, with all populated areas covered by 5G no later than 2030.

We must ensure the security and resilience of our communications and digital infrastructure in the face of increasing hazards, both from malicious attacks and from extreme weather events. I have been highly critical of the response of some of our service providers to the damage to communications infrastructure caused by Storm Éowyn. Notwithstanding the severity of that storm, it was unacceptable that some rural areas and customers were left for months without service.

I have also engaged with the regulator, ComReg, in this regard. I have written to individual operators seeking more detail on the actions they have taken since the storm and any remaining actions they intend to take before next winter. My Department is also reviewing the statutory powers available to me, as Minister, and to ComReg, in relation to requirements on operators including storm-related information gathering and sharing, network integrity that includes maintaining networks in a proper state, obligations regarding network restoration and related timeframes and informing consumers about network and service restoration.

In respect of postal policy, the Government is committed to supporting the Irish post office network, in line with the programme for Government. These Estimates provide for €10 million for the post office network, which An Post disperses through the network. Clearly, the online world has changed the nature of postal services. This provides challenges for the post office network, but it also gives rise to opportunities. It is important that the network put itself in a position to take these opportunities to ensure its sustainability and continue to be a vital community service into the future. The Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, will speak further on this.

More than €230 million is provided for sport in the Estimate. Sport is a central part of Irish life, from the grassroots local level right up to our elite athletes and teams. I am committed to ensuring that it continues to contribute positively to health and well-being across all elements of society. We will achieve this by continuing to invest in much-needed facilities throughout the country via record allocations this year for the community sport facilities fund and the large-scale sport infrastructure fund. In addition, we have provided increased funding for Sport Ireland to support sporting organisations and programmes. We also have a number of important major sports events planned over the next two years. The Minister of State will go into greater detail on these issues too.