Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach attended the Kennedy centre in Washington yesterday for the opening of Ireland 100, a major festival of the Irish Arts, which I believe will be enormously successful but while he was quite properly attending those celebrations, it is a little incongruous that at home there is widespread concern in the arts committee at the downgrading and lack of commitment in the programme for Government to the critical role of the arts and culture in modern Ireland. We have a new Department which is called the Department of Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht. The commitments in the programme for Government to the arts are very vague and it has very few costings. Will the Government provide for a debate on the important role of arts and culture both at home and abroad and on what the programme for Government means in terms of funding for the arts in Ireland? It is our calling card when we go abroad and it is tremendously important for us at home as well. When the appointments of Ministers of State are announced, which I believe will happen by the weekend, will there be a dedicated Minister of State for the arts to underlie the significance and importance of the sector?

My second question about the programme for Government is a simple one. Who is the Minister for the environment? I note from reading the programme for Government that we have a Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and a Department of Communications and Climate Change but we no longer seem to have a Minister who deals with the environment. That particular job seems to have gone AWOL from the programme for Government.

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