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

The festivals are encouraged to do that. We have no difficulty with that at all. The Deputy mentioned a few festivals in Clare, such as Consairtín. That has been cancelled. Funding of €4,000 was provided to it. The Killaloe Chamber Music festival was granted funding of €16,000. The Ennis Book Club festival commenced. It received a grant of €27,000. Deputy McNamara also mentioned the Scoil Samhraidh Willie Clancy and the Iniscealtra Festival of Arts. As yet, neither of those has been cancelled. The Corofin Traditional festival took place already, as did the Shannonside Winter Music Festival. There are a number of festivals. County Clare is a very busy place for festivals.

The summer festivals have been especially affected by the impact of Covid-19. As Deputies may be aware, the main funding provided for festivals across the country is from my Department's small-scale local festivals and summer schools scheme and the Arts Council festivals investment scheme which is also for larger festivals such as the Galway Arts Festival, in addition to the Arts Council's strategic funding stream. The applications have recently closed so my Department has not yet assessed some of the applications but the details I have outlined might be sufficient to respond to Deputy McNamara's questions.

Regarding commemorations, on 2 January 2020 when I was in Cork City Hall we announced a significant decade of centenaries programme. This Sunday, I have the National Famine Commemoration Day, which will take place in St. Stephen's Green this year. It was in Sligo last year. We are doing as much as we can in terms of commemorations. It is a real shame for Cork in particular because it had a great programme of events lined up. There is a series of events commemorating the assassination of the Lord Mayor, Tomás Mac Curtain, and the election of Terence MacSwiney as the new Lord Mayor. We are doing everything we can. We are talking to the county councils in Cork about those, but Deputy McNamara is probably more interested in Clare.

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