Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate my constituency colleague, Deputy Niamh Smyth, on her appointment as Fianna Fáil spokesperson on the arts. I look forward to working with her on national and local issues. She has a great interest in the arts, particularly given her role in the Cavan and Monaghan Education and Training Board, ETB, arts in education initiative which was very successfully piloted through the board.

A Programme for a Partnership Government contains a very important commitment to work to progressively increase funding to the arts, including the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board, as the economy continues to improve. I will engage with my colleagues in government and the Oireachtas to seek to advance this commitment in the context of the forthcoming Estimates and budgetary processes.

Other priorities, in line with A Programme for a PartnershipGovernment, include the publication of Culture 2025, Ireland's first national cultural policy, which I intend to finalise shortly. It will provide a framework for considering a range of important issues, including improving access to culture, breaking down barriers in areas of social exclusion and disadvantage, and how culture is enriched by greater cultural diversity. Another priority is the continued implementation of the arts in education charter and encouraging local authorities to strengthen the role of arts and heritage officers by building stronger links with local development groups. This will also feed into my expanded brief covering regional development and rural affairs. I will also prioritise opening the new capital grants scheme for applications to provide for upgrades of existing regional arts and cultural centres around the country. There is €3 million for the scheme in this year's budget and a total of €9 million over three years. Other priorities include boosting supports to regional museums and facilitating increased loans between the national cultural institutions and the network of regional museums, working with the Irish Film Board, Screen Ireland, to ensure Ireland is maximised as a location for international film production, and further encouraging strong, mutually beneficial links between the business community and arts organisations.

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These priorities represent an ambitious agenda and I look forward to working with all partners and across all parties in this House to develop and implement these initiatives.

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