John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

I had the pleasure of visiting the Garage Theatre and I am aware of the difficulties under which the people running it and performing there operate. Under the new ACCESS scheme, 70% of funds will be directed to the enhancement or refurbishment of existing facilities, with 30% available for new facilities. We received 155 applications from right across the country up to the closing date. An independent selection committee has been assessing the applications and I do not anticipate an announcement prior to the end of this month.

An application was received from the Garage Theatre in Monaghan to build a new theatre in the town. The project has an estimated cost somewhere in the order of €10 million, with the project promoters seeking funding in the order of €6 million. There is a difficulty with that in the context of the amount of funding available under the scheme for new build and the amount of funding available generally.

As I have stated, the matter is under consideration and an announcement in respect of theatres, as well as art and exhibition centres across the country, can be expected in due course.

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