Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is an interesting concept. In 2016 a once-off €49 million was made available for the centenary programme under the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, which included €18 million in current funding and €31 million in capital funding. As the Deputy is aware, some of the once-off projects that were finished included the visitor centre at the GPO, Richmond Barracks, the Kevin Barry rooms at the National Concert Hall, the Athenaeum in Wexford and others in Dublin that will stand the test of time. The Department retained the majority of the €18 million in current funding for 2017 and it is now part of the base for the arts division of the Department, meaning this will be available in future years. As Deputy Howlin is aware, 2016 was a particular year given it was the centenary year.

We do not have the details worked out for each of the years up to 2022 and 2023. I have made the point before that, as was reflected in the 1916 centenary year, we now have time to plan what we are going to have to do as a nation, and as a people, for 2020, 2021 and 2022, and for the War of Independence and the Civil War. As a mature country, given people went to extraordinary lengths to show a different mentality and a different Ireland during the centenary year, it is a question of how we can bridge the gap across the sensitivities of the Civil War. We have the time and the opportunity to plan imaginatively as to how that might be reflected in a centenary commemoration.

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