Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, I am presenting this information on behalf of the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin.

Primary support for the arts is delivered by the Arts Council. In 2022, the Minister allocated a record €130 million to the Arts Council. She was pleased to retain the €130 million in funding for the council in 2023 in recognition of the transformational impact that funding has had on the development of the sector, enabling the council to support more artists and arts organisations than ever before.

The council is independent in its funding decisions under the Arts Act 2003 and the Minister or officials in her Department cannot intervene in this decision-making.

Recent decades have seen the development of a nationwide infrastructure of venues and arts centres, many of which were initiated and funded by local authorities. Current funding provided to these arts centres by local authorities and the Arts Council is critical to ensure that a stable and vibrant network can be maintained. Local authorities are central to the support and development of the arts in Ireland through their own arts offices and through the resourcing and funding of arts centres.

In the context outlined it is understood that the council has made a number of funding awards to the arts centre referred to by the Deputy. This includes €210,000 of arts centre funding as well as commissions awards under its programme for young people children and education. I also understand that Carlow County Council has been awarded €100,000 by the council under the long-standing local arts partnership funding scheme.

Under the Creative Communities initiative of the Creative Ireland programme, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, together with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, provides funding to each of the 31 local authorities to enable them to implement their individual cultural and creativity strategies from 2018 to 2022. Through Creative Communities, substantial funding has been provided to Carlow County Council for the period 2018 to 2022 and it has supported an extensive programme of engagement across the arts, culture and creativity in County Carlow.

These centres are also supported through capital schemes operated by the Department. The funding is available under the national development plan for cultural and creativity investment programmes. These are closely aligned with Creative Ireland and include a range of investments in regional arts and cultural facilities.

The cultural capital scheme from 2019 to 2022 is a €4.7 million capital investment scheme for arts and culture centres administered by the Department to enhance the existing stock of arts and culture centres across the country. In recent years, the arts centre in question was successful under a number of capital schemes. The centre was also awarded funding under the regional museum exhibition scheme and further details can be accessed on the Department’s website.

Capital funding for the outdoor public space scheme has been provided to local authorities to adapt, equip or otherwise improve public spaces for cultural and events activities taking account of public health guidance and of the needs of the local arts community. The Minister awarded €250,000 to Carlow County Council in 2021 to provide an outer public space at the Carlow Exchange in Carlow town. I understand that this project has now been completed and was officially opened last month and will be a centre for a range of social, cultural and educational events in Carlow.

In summary, the Deputy will know that the arts centre along with the local authority is in receipt of funding from a wide range of public funding sources, including the Arts Council, which is independent in its funding decisions.

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