John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)

A special committee was established to advise the Arts Council on how best to align the council's strategies for the promotion and encouragement of the arts with the priorities of the formal education system. The arts and education committee members are Mary Nunan, Arts Council member, Jerome Morrissey, National Centre for Training in Technology, Pat MacSitric, assistant chief inspector, Department of Education and Science, Mr. Derek West, chair of National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, Orlaith McBride, Arts Council member. The committee is due to report with its recommendations, in May, after which consideration can be given to their implementation and any possible funding requirements.

In its deliberations, the committee will have regard to the wide-ranging demands on the school curriculum bearing in mind that responsibility for determining its content rests with the Minister for Education and Science. It will have regard to the need to prioritise and cost its recommendations; that these recommendations must have regard both to their resource implications for the Arts Council and the budgetary resources available over the next four years to the Minister for Education and Science for the development of services in the education sector which must be allocated to fund existing policy commitments. Subject to these factors, it will consider the identification of what additional sources of funding, if any, might be available to fund its recommendations and the roles and partnerships appropriate for relevant State and other agencies and bodies in this context, including the Department of Education and Science, the Arts Council, vocational committees and local authorities. The focus of the special committee's advice should be on making specific and deliverable recommendations for implementation over three to five years.

Giving the arts a higher, more consistent profile at both primary and post-primary levels, can bring significant benefits to students. It is important to stress this applies to all students and not just to those who are recognised as being particularly gifted artistically. As the future of the arts resides with our children, it is vital the arts are embedded in our education system at all levels. I look forward to seeing the results of the committee's work and am committed to encouraging participation in the arts as part of our children's education.

Any question of funding to implement the recommendations of the committee will be addressed in the context of the 2008 Estimates process. During my tenure, I have been singular in my objective to enhance the resourcing of the arts and culture sector. I have taken the sector from the periphery of the policy circle to its very core. For 2007, I secured more than €216 million for the arts and culture sector. The national development plan has allocated more than €900 million for capital projects in the area. Unquestionably, neither I nor this Government has been found deficient in funding the arts and culture sector.

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