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

For more than ten years, my Department has operated a scheme of funding support for small self-contained projects that seek to enhance, celebrate or commemorate the art, culture, music, film or heritage of the island of Ireland on a North-South basis. The co-operation with Northern Ireland scheme provides support for projects that have a clearly demonstrable North-South element and which seek to make a contribution to enhancing, celebrating or commemorating the art, culture, music, film or heritage of the whole of the island of Ireland.

Some €127,500 in funding will be allocated under this scheme in 2019 with a maximum of €15,000 awardable per applicant. Projects are awarded on a competitive basis and I will announce the results of the 2019 scheme on my Department's website in the coming weeks. A total of 30 applications were received in 2019, which is an increase of 18 on the number received in 2018. The years 2016 and 2017 saw an unprecedented demand with 90 applications being received in those years.

In addition, my Department also provides annual funding of €100,000 towards the Cross-Border Orchestra of Ireland Peace Proms event. This event is a unique and ambitious musical education programme in which 20,000 children from 250 schools throughout the island of Ireland participate annually. It is a musical and cultural celebration and provides an important platform for young people to showcase their talent while promoting peace, unity and tolerance through music.

In 2019, my Department will also be providing €12,000 in support for An tUltachmagazine, which was first published in 1924 and is considered to be the oldest periodical in the Irish language.

There are other agencies under my Department which also engage in cross-Border co-operation on cultural projects. For example, the Deputy may be familiar with the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, which is one of three residential artists’ spaces operating on the island of Ireland. This is funded annually by both the Arts Council and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. This Centre is currently undertaking a significant capital development to which my Department has committed €309,000 in funding.

Culture, in general, operates beyond borders and boundaries and can facilitate cross-community and cross-cultural understanding at the deepest level. My Department will ensure that culture continues to play an important role in fostering all-island dialogue, and in particular dialogue between Ireland and Britain, especially during this decade of centenaries, and now in the context of the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

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