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

As I said, the Arts Council conducted an audit of all arts and cultural facilities, not just in Dublin, but across Ireland. My Department has also allocated €11.9 million in current funding to support the work of the night-time economy task force and €2 million in capital funding, and this has supported some key initiatives and pilot projects in the night-time economy policy area. We are not afraid to try new things and work with the sector to put in place supports and initiatives that can create opportunities and new thinking. That includes collaboration with the Department of housing, which the Deputy has mentioned. The Department of Justice is another key Department in this consultation and cross-departmental and cross-government approach.

We also have a Dublin city adviser in place. Dublin City Council and the new adviser, Ray O'Donoghue, are planning to publish their plan shortly. That will be key, and the work is ongoing. A tenet of mine during my time as Minister has been engaging in ongoing consultation with stakeholders, listening to them, seeing what we need to do, seeing how we need to evolve any policies that are under way, and looking at investment.

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