Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome very much and accept the genuine nature of the supportive comments other leaders have made on the arts. The budget increase for the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs for last year was between €18 million and €20 million. This included a €5 million, or 8%, increase in the annual budget of the Arts Council, an increase in the budgets of all of the national cultural institutions, €2 million to allow for the opening of the newly restored historic wings at the National Gallery of Ireland, which are now open, the opening of Killarney House, which took place the other day, an increase of €2 million for the Irish Film Board, an increase of €1 million for Culture Ireland and funding of €5 million for the implementation of the Creative Ireland programme for 2017 to 2022. While it was the case that there were budget reductions during the downturn when budgets were being decreased in all areas, people can see from the actions of the new Government that when there is a little bit more space and more resources, the arts are getting their fair share in the increases I have just outlined. Other measures are in place. Creative Ireland is very exciting and I am very much behind it. It is now under way. We had Cruinniú na Cásca over Easter and there are local government plans in place. There is €5 million for that this year. In addition, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I worked together to change the social welfare code to exempt self-employed artists from normal activation measures. They can now concentrate on their art for a time without having to go through the normal activation procedures provided they are recognised by a recognised arts body.

I engage with people in the arts sector a great deal. It is an area I have been interested in myself. I will be at the Galway Film Fleadh on Thursday where one of my friends is premiering "Pilgrimage". I recommend people go and see it if they get a chance. When I meet people who are interested in or involved in the arts, they tend to ask me about funding. Sometimes, they ask me about multi-annual funding. I agree with Deputy Howlin's comments in that regard. It would be much better if we could have multi-annual funding horizons in place for the national cultural institutions and the Arts Council. It is not something I can guarantee will be in the next budget but it is something I would like to see there. I have never had a single person involved in the arts or culture ask me how many times a sub-committee met. It is really not top of the list of concerns of those involved in the arts and culture whether we have a sub-committee and how often it meets. What they are interested in is funding generally and funding on a multi-annual basis. Funding will increase next year.

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