Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The arts and culture scheme, as the Deputy has said, has been very successful, as are the culture teams in the local authorities. The local authorities have been wonderful in putting together the culture teams and in the work they do.

With regard to the arts and culture capital scheme, some €10 million has been awarded to more than 120 arts centres, theatres, galleries and performance spaces across the State. This is the largest investment in our local and regional arts infrastructure in a decade. Deputies will be glad to hear that 85% of the funding went to projects outside Dublin. The scheme links in very well with pillar 2 of the Creative Ireland programme, to enable creativity in every community. As the Deputy has pointed out, a number of projects in Laois-Offaly received funding: Birr Stage Guild Ltd. received €32,844 under strand 1; Teach Ceoil in Killeagh received €13,496 under strand 3; Laois arts centre received €20,000. I am aware the Deputy has been very supportive of all these local projects and the good news is that I have been able to secure additional capital funding in budget 2018. I hope to be in a position to invite applications for a further round of the scheme in the coming months.

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