Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the precise impact, and the spending programmes in relation to same, the €6 million cutback in spending will have in 2008, as announced in July 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33882/08]

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 128: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism his plans to cut services provided directly by his Department or through bodies funded by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33761/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 126 and 128 together.

As required by the Government in dealing with the current financial difficulties, an amount of €5.978 million was identified as the savings to be achieved this year on the Votes of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and the National Gallery. The savings will be as follows: €3 million in Department operated capital programmes for cultural projects; €2 million in savings among our agencies in grant programmes; and an additional €978,000 in savings in administration costs and other efficiencies across the Department, the National Gallery and our agencies.

In advising our agencies of the budgetary adjustments, the Department requested them to apply the savings in such a way as to have minimal impact on the levels of service to the public. As the Deputies are aware, the Government is currently preparing for budget 2009 and until such time as the budget has been announced, I am not prepared to speculate on its impact of the Department's Vote.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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In view of that has happened in the HSE despite the requests made to it to avoid impacting on frontline services, I should not expect a better result from the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism or the agencies under its remit. In regard to administrative savings, where stands the decentralisation programme? The Department was an early mover and half of its staff have transferred.

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Nearly all have moved.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Is it intended to proceed with decentralisation? I understand that accommodation was being sought for the Minister and his departmental secretaries in Dublin.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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This is not specifically a question on decentralisation.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am asking about the associated administrative costs.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The programme is not under the remit of the Minister.

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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It is a separate question.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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He has to meet the administrative costs from his Department's budget.

Do the consultancy fees associated with the Abbey Theatre, which are all we seem to have, come directly under the Minister's remit? There is no sign of progress on the project despite the large sums spent on consultancy fees.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Deputy is casting a broad net with the phrase "administrative budget".

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Minister has given me no information on where the savings are to be made.

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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That is not fair.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The budget for cultural projects is to be reduced by €3 million but he has not indicated which specific projects will be discontinued. If the Minister is willing to share the details, I will ask specific questions. What agencies are being deprived of money and what projects will be affected?

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I provided the Deputy with a formidable amount of information in response to an earlier question. The number of validated claims received by the Department from the various promoters was lower than anticipated this year. This probably reflects the general position of the construction industry. In that way, we were able to make savings.

My Department has almost completely decentralised to Killarney and only a few of us are left in Kildare Street. Work on our new building will be complete by the end of the year. Obviously we will have to maintain a presence in the Dáil when it is sitting and so on, for which a small cohort will be required. This will be the first fully decentralised Department, to which I look forward.

Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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It might be the only one.

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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There is no difficulty from my point of view in seeing the programme completed.

Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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The Minister mentioned capital for some of the cultural programmes, some of which are very important. We would like to know which ones will be targeted. From what the Minister said, he will not elaborate much further. However, the issue is important. There is also a more general point about the capital programme. Although I have mentioned that we have duplication, for example, in some sports, I do not think we have this in cultural agencies or buildings, particularly in Dublin, but also around the country. There may be a case for considering the Labour Party's proposal on the redeployment of people involved in the construction industry. If there are big capital programmes, perhaps the focus could be redirected towards these, similar to our proposal for schools.

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The reality is that these measures still require money. As the Deputy knows, decisions in these areas are taken by the Arts Council, not by me. The council organises its budgets. We spoke to the agencies when we originally made our contribution to the adjustments made in July this year on behalf of the Government. My understanding is that it has not really had a direct effect in stopping projects or withdrawing their funding. However, some projects which it was anticipated would take place have not come to fruition this year, although they may well begin next year. This represents a small amount of money spread over a number of projects. I do not disagree — nor would anybody else — about the importance of these projects, particularly because they affect small communities and the benefit is there for all to see.