Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 130 and 169 together.

Funding for touring is provided by the Arts Council. The Arts Council is statutorily independent under the Arts Act 2003 and I have no role to play in its specific funding decisions.

In 2007 and 2008 combined, approximately €2.5 million has been spent by the council to support touring. This is in addition to touring provision embedded in revenue grants to organisations. The Arts Council introduced a touring programme in late 2006 for which funding of €1.7 million was made available in 2007. The council expects an analysis report on the touring programme to be completed in 2008 at which time the council will consider its recommendations and the options for the future. In the meantime, the council has provided a further €757,000 in grants for touring in 2008.

In addition, in the context of its 80th anniversary, the Department has provided €250,000 for the Gate Theatre in 2008 to part fund its 40-venue tour of "Waiting for Godot". This tour is under way and each venue visited to date has been sold out. Clearly, any allocation for touring in 2009 will have to be made by the Arts Council in the context of the allocation available to it and based on the analysis of the programme in the last two years.

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