Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the efforts he has made to address the fact that Dublin is suffering loss of competitive position against other major European city competitors due to lack of coordination of marketing efforts; the engagement he has with various stakeholders; his plans to establish a statistical data base to track the number of theatres, galleries, libraries, museums, venues, festivals and cultural spaces in Dublin as per the World Cities Culture Report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42256/12]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The World Cities Culture Report 2012, to which the Deputy refers, examines the cultural offering of 12 of the world’s greatest cities, selected by the application of a set of objective criteria such as economic wealth and population figures, and all of which differ significantly from Dublin in terms of size, scale and population. However, a number of the key messages emanating from the report resonate strongly with Dublin as our capital city, having regard to the unique role that the cultural and creative industries of any city must play to ensure the endurance, development and evolution of that city.

A crucial part of the current and future repositioning of the economy is the leveraging of Ireland's cultural and creative resources as part of the development of a robust economic base, in part rooted in the cultural and creative industries. Dublin, as our capital city, is a key stakeholder in this process.

Cultural tourism is now a key element of Ireland’s tourism industry, with culture cited by the majority of visitors to Ireland as a key motivator in choosing Ireland. Our national cultural institutions are essential building blocks of the cultural identity and creativity of Ireland and the future success of the knowledge economy. In 2011, I am proud to say there were over 3.6 million visitors to the national cultural institutions and other cultural venues supported by my Department.

Among the three working groups operated by the Council of National Cultural Institutions, CNCI, its marketing group organises the joint marketing of the institutions. In recent years, this has consisted primarily of advertising via the various media outlets on offer and the redesign and upgrade of the CNCI website. This year the group also organised a specific Internet advertising campaign aimed at attracting overflow visitors from the London Olympics to Ireland and a shared stand for all of the national cultural institutions at the Ploughing Championships in Wexford, which I am happy to report attracted significant interest. The group also hopes to broaden promotion beyond the typical advertising media in the coming years.

Culture Night is an initiative strongly supported by my Department since its inception. The event has grown from a relatively small-scale cultural event in 2006 to the significant national cultural event it now is, with more than 300,000 people visiting museums, galleries, historic houses, artists’ studios and cultural centres throughout the country in 2011. Early indications are that the 2012 figures for this event will match, if not exceed, this.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

My Department also funded the development of the Culturefox application for smartphones and it is widely used by arts organisations and tourists alike. There are numerous other events and projects to which my Department provides funding and support, all of which play a key role in promoting Dublin in all its forms. These include the Dublin Theatre Festival, projects celebrating Dublin's selection as the 2012 City of Science and the many projects which recognise and celebrate the 2010 designation of Dublin as an UNESCO City of Literature.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. However, does he not see a contradiction in supporting the development of Dublin as a key tourist destination while his Department conjures up plans to restructure the capital's key cultural institutions and incorporate them in the Department, not to mention slashing funding to the Arts Council and to the arts in general? Does the Minister accept the strategic importance of Dublin as a tourist location, that increased tourism numbers to Dublin could have a beneficial effect on the rest of the country and that to develop tourism in Dublin to its full potential would require an emphasis on event-based marketing for Dublin and other cities? Would the Minister agree with that?

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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Dublin is, certainly, vibrant at present and this is driven by our cultural institutions. I suggest the Deputy walk along Kildare Street and see the large numbers going into the National Museum and the National Library. If she ventures beyond Kildare Street, she will see that our cultural institutions are thriving at present. I am sure some of the young people who are in the Visitors Gallery have been to the National Museum and National Library during the visit to Dublin. Our cultural institutions are thriving. I want to strengthen our cultural institutions, make them more accessible and market them more effectively. That is what I will be doing while I am in my present position. Some 3.6 million of our tourists come to Ireland for the cultural experience.

I agree with the Deputy that it is important we promote culture as our unique selling point. What makes us different from anyone else is our music, song, dance and the various aspects of our culture. I take on board what the Deputy says. We can learn from the World Cities Culture report, although it does not refer to Dublin, as such. There has been a major drive to promote our cultural institutions. Deputy Ó Fearghaíl referred to The Gathering. Cultural institutions are playing a major role in The Gathering, which will take place next year.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I remind the Minister that culture extends beyond Kildare Street.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I am a Deputy from Kerry, the periphery of the country. We are doing well out of culture and we sell it well in Kerry.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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And In Cork.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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However, more than a million tourists visited the National Museum last year and there will be more visitors this year. Whatever we are doing to support and promote our cultural institutions must be working, to some extent.