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

It is very clear in this particular Department. The legacy programme of Creative Ireland has been a success in terms of the five pillars to enable every child to have access to tuition in music, drama, art and coding. That is the first pillar. The Deputy delineated a question specifically on enabling creativity in every community. Each local authority produced a culture and creativity plan last year. We have the breakdown of the spend on Cruinniú na Cásca, which, as I said, was €1.25 million. The local authority partnership last year was €1 million, and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government gave €1 million, so they got €64,000 each. We will increase that.

The spend on the citizen engagement was €900,000. We have a breakdown of that. The figure for the events, festivals and partnerships was €490,000. The spend on digital content was €400,000, online-international was €200,000, and administrative was €500,000, making a grand total of €5 million for last year.

It is an all-of-Government initiative, primarily delivered through existing structures. The Arts Council has its role. There is no competing in that regard. The Arts Council is at arm's length. It is up to it how it spends its money. There is also the film board, the relevant Departments and the local authorities. The objectives are delivered. The Arts Council gets funding every year to deliver its objectives, one of which is Making Great Art Work.

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