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

Pillar 2 of Creative Ireland is very important, and it is important that each local authority uses, in a robust and imaginative way, the moneys it receives. These are the programmes for Cavan and Monaghan, and both the cathaoirleach of Cavan County Council, Councillor Madeleine Argue, and the cathaoirleach of Monaghan County Council, Councillor Cathy Bennett, set out their ambitious targets for their culture plans, which we launched recently.

We spent €1,25 million on Cruinniú na Cásca in 2017. This year, we had Cruinniú na nÓg on 23 June. Additional funding of €650,000 was given to the local authorities. The local authorities must account for how they spend the moneys we give to them, which is growing every year. It involves all of the community and many moving parts to encourage children, the elderly and everybody to be creative and explore their imagination and innovation in terms of culture.

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