Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I will speak about that issue. Suffice it to say it is a pilot project involving 150 schools. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan spoke about education. It is very important we bring forward the scheme. We are investing €460 million under the national cultural investment programme which will be really transformative in bringing many of the national cultural institutions into the 21st century. Many of the projects are at appraisal, planning and design stage, while many are flagship projects. We will be hoping to move to the delivery phase in the coming years and will be able to add to the list into the future.

On the heritage side, some €285 million has been allocated which will create employment and help us to invest in national parks and nature reserves. The number of visitors has increased from 2.5 million to 4 million in just over ten years. We need to have the infrastructure we require to ensure we can cope with the steady increase in the number of visitors. It will also help in promoting tourism.

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