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

I have met the National Campaign for the Arts. We had a very positive meeting and I look forward to working with them. I recently met the Arts Council and had another positive meeting there. Everybody who comes into my Department is looking for increases in budgets. I would like to give everybody the increase they want. However, that is a matter that I will be pursuing in the budgetary and Estimates process for 2017 and I will be seeking the support of my Oireachtas colleagues in that process. In terms of the figure that is spent on the arts, as I said, I cannot give the Deputy the exact figure. What I can tell him is that the figure that was produced by the compendium project is incorrect because it does not include all of the money that is spent on the arts in this country. It is in the Culture 2025 policy that we need to look at how we measure the investment that we put into our arts sector. That is something I will be pursuing.

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