Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

To pick up on a point raised in the Taoiseach's previous reply, he will recall we put in significant funding on the capital side for the 1916 centenary commemorations. The argument was very strongly made by my colleague, Deputy Burton, that this should be embedded in capital funding for the arts because it is an area that has been lacking in capital funding, although we put in a rolling €5 million per annum for arts centres and so on. Is it is intended to keep that €50 million? The Taoiseach indicated it was being left in place. What specifically will it be paid out for?

With regard to the next phase of commemorations, given we are coming up to the commemoration of the War of Independence and the end of the First World War, is it planned to have specific commemorations of those events and others? Will the Taoiseach indicate exactly what is envisaged?

With regard to the Irish language and the Gaeltacht, under Acht na Gaeltachta 2012 it was envisaged we would have a different look at what constitutes a Gaeltacht and that it would not necessarily be a geographical area but a nexus of Irish speakers. While it may sound fanciful to some, my former colleague Robert Dowds had proposed, for example, that there was a sufficient number of people in Clondalkin who could have the designation of being in a Gaeltacht. Is there any out-of-the-box thinking to promote the Irish language in a new way in areas, including urban areas, where there is a high regard for the spoken language?

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