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

My Department approved a grant to Mayo County Council in respect of the proposed Mary Robinson centre in Ballina under subhead A7 of my Department’s Vote, which supports cultural infrastructure and development.

It should be noted that my Department supports a range of capital projects in the cultural area, both scheme-based and once-off. For example, the permanent reminder projects, which were developed as part of the Ireland 2016 centenary programme, were all once-off projects promoted by a mixture of public entities, including Government Departments and offices, State agencies and local authorities.

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In the case referred to by the Deputy, my Department received a formal request for funding in July 2015 from the project promoters, Mayo County Council. This funding was provided in the normal way in the context of the 2016 Revised Estimates. In February 2016, my Department offered a capital grant in principle to Mayo County Council of up to €2 million towards the cost of construction of the proposed centre, subject to the standard conditions that apply to all such capital grants.

The board of the Victoria House Foundation issued a statement yesterday indicating that it is now to review the options for developing the proposed centre in Ballina following the decision to donate the Mary Robinson archive to NUI Galway. It was indicated that this review would be completed in the first quarter of 2017. My Department is liaising with Mayo County Council on the matter and I will consider any proposals which may emerge from the review, when completed.

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