Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I firmly believe that culture and language are vital for our well-being in Ireland. This was clearly demonstrated particularly with regard to culture during the Covid-19 pandemic, and I will continue to make this clear to my colleagues in the Government. The Deputy referred to Wales. A key lesson, too, is that it is an iterative process requiring patience, commitment and planning, as the embedding process takes time. For example, in New Zealand, which the Deputy referenced in his initial question, there is the inclusion of a specific, additional dimension on culture related to the demography of the country and the Maori culture specifically. In the case of Ireland's well-being framework, culture, both in terms of identity and participation, has been explicitly integrated into the dimensions of well-being. My officials and the Department are currently giving detailed consideration to how we can use data to allow us to measure well-being. I am grateful for the Deputy's contribution and for his ideas with regard to what is being done in Wales. That is something my officials are looking at too. We have to identify indicators across the sectors in my Department for capturing data that will assist us in measuring well-being for evidence-based policy development.

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