Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am sure the Minister will appreciate it is my job on the Opposition benches to interrogate and investigate how progress is being made. My biggest concern, as it would be for anyone in the artistic community, is implementation. It would be fair to say the Creative Ireland programme was launched in the glitziest way possible. The Department held a roadshow that possibly hit every county in the country, and I had the pleasure of attending it in Cavan and Monaghan. To me, it was very much a marketing and public relations exercise and many of the related statements were quite vague. I want to see the exact actions we are talking about. I know the Minister has touched on some of them. Perhaps we could talk a little about the arts in education pillar. One of the Minister's commitments is that every child in Ireland will be able to access music, drama and the visual arts. Most of our local authorities in this day and age are already doing that. Our ETBs are already doing so. It is nice to see that being brought together in a coherent way but much of that work was already being done. We have the arts in education charter, which was launched in 2013. There was a commitment in it to the local arts in education partnerships. Perhaps the Minister could talk to us a little about the actual implementation of that charter.

See this speech in context