Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Creative Ireland programme which the Taoiseach and the Minister launched in December places a special focus on enabling the creative potential of every child. Building on the Arts in Education Charter, this will involve the development of an integrated plan, creative children, to enable every child in Ireland access tuition in music, drama, art and coding by 2022. Departmental officials continue to work with other Departments and stakeholders to develop this plan, with a launch timeframe of Autumn 2017.

I am pleased to say continuing professional development through teacher-artist partnerships is ongoing, and this July will see a significant increase in the number of courses taking place across 21 education centres throughout the country. In addition, the Arts Council-commissioned report, Arts and Cultural Participation among Children and Young People: Insights from the Growing Up in Ireland Study, which was published in September 2016, concluded that arts and cultural participation leads to a range of positive outcomes for children, both in terms of their cognitive development and their well-being. This study found that schools are important arenas for access to arts and culture, and school emphasis on culture has a positive impact on student engagement in these activities.

The creative children plan will build on work to date in implementing the Arts in Education Charter to include the delivery of arts-rich schools, making the arts a key part of school life across the country. The Department continues to work closely with the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Youth and Children Affairs and the Arts Council to deliver the key objectives of the charter in the wider context flow of the Creative Ireland programme, to include non-mainstream education.

Arising from the significant increase of support of €5 million which was secured for the Arts Council as part of Budget 2017, the Minister is pleased that the Arts Council increased funding in this area for 2017 from €3.1 million in 2016 to €3.7 million this year. The Minister will also provide an additional €70,000 to the Arts Council to assist in the expansion of the teacher artist partnership this year. This funding is being provided under the Creative Ireland programme.

These initiatives demonstrate the overall commitment of the Government to deliver for children as we work in finalising the creative children plan.

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