Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a fair question. There are five pillars in the programme, one of which is that every child in Ireland will have access to the arts by 2022. The Arts Council has increased its funding for Creative Ireland. It is at an early stage. There will be a launch of the arts in education initiative in the autumn and the launch will include details explaining how it will be rolled out. The Deputy asked very fair question. I cannot give her an answer today, but when the initiative is announced in the autumn how it will be rolled out to every child and every school will be explained. It is a good programme for which the Arts Council has provided funding. It is important that every child in every corner of the country going through education has an opportunity, because all children have something artistic in them. They deserve the same opportunity as others, which they might not get. The scheme itself is very good. The details of the scheme will be announced in the autumn and the details on how it will be rolled out will be given.

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