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

The chair of the Arts Council, Dr. Kevin Rafter, has welcomed the increase, particularly given the difficult budget we had in the context of Brexit. That should be acknowledged. The budget for the Arts Council increased by €5 million to €80 million, or 6.7%, in the budget and has increased by 23% since 2017.

On Culture Ireland, we are still finalising figures for the Revised Estimates but I am confident funding for Culture Ireland will remain the same as it has been.

On the trajectory for doubling funding to the arts sector, we are fully committed to doing this. Funding for the arts stood at €303 million in 2018, so doubling that figure by 2025 would mean increasing arts funding to €606 million. We increased funding to €339 million and it will be €354 million next year. We are, therefore, consistently increasing funding. There are still a few years to go to acknowledge and implement the commitment.

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