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

My Department operates a wide range of funding schemes in support of cultural development across Ireland and details of the various schemes are published on my Department’s website. One of the schemes to which the Deputy refers is funded by the Arts Council, which is independent in its funding decisions. Details of funding by this agency are also published on its website, and in its annual report and accounts, which are published and available in the Oireachtas Library for all the years sought, including 2017. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that total funding of €1.54 million has been provided to County Tipperary in the period 2014 to 2017, under the various schemes to which he refers. This includes funding of €1.3 million from the Arts Council, and funding of €233,855 from my Department under two of the three schemes listed by the Deputy in the question he tabled.

For the Deputy's convenience, I have arranged to have the breakdown of funding allocated to organisations in County Tipperary by my Department and the Arts Council sent directly to him. I am pleased to note that in relation to schemes run by my Department, funding has been allocated to Tipperary County Museum for regional exhibitions, co-operation with Northern Ireland and mobility of collections. Funding has also been provided to Tipperary County Council for Culture Night. Under capital developments, my Department has funded the Black Castle Theatre Company, the Source Arts Centre, the Tipperary Excel Heritage Company Limited, the South Tipperary Arts Centre, Cloughjordan Arts, the Nenagh Arts Centre and COSAOS Limited.

While organisations in Tipperary have not received funding to date in one of the schemes to which the Deputy referred in his question, this particular scheme has only been in operation since 2017. I look forward to seeing future applications from Tipperary under this scheme. In budget 2019, I announced total expenditure of €339 million towards culture, language and heritage in 2019. This funding includes additional funding of more than €36 million for my Department in 2019, an increase of 12% on 2018 allocations.

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