Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Minister refers to the document and previous initiatives being based on the very successful 2016 programme. The Minister will recall that I was a very strong supporter, as Tánaiste, of investment into the rebuilding of the national cultural institutions. I argued strongly that the capital initiative for funding which existed in the years running up to 2016 - and saw the restoration of part of the National Gallery, for example, and other very good initiatives - should continue. I was very disappointed, notwithstanding the increase that the Minister was able to grant to a number of bodies, including the Arts Council that she referenced earlier, that that programme for capital funding of our arts at national, regional and local level has been dropped. The endowment for the arts in Ireland, in the broadest sense of the word, has fallen dramatically this year, as the Minister knows from the comparison of the capital and current figures. I want to know if the Minister intends to restore that in full in this cultural framework, hopefully starting with this budget.

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