Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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8. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht his plans to develop a strategy to improve the level of philanthropic donations to the arts here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26131/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The programme for Government included the following commitment in the area of philanthropy and the arts:

We will work with stakeholders in the Arts community to develop new proposals aimed at building private support of the Arts in Ireland exploring philanthropic, sponsorship or endowment fund opportunities.

Last October, I hosted and chaired a forum on philanthropy and the arts in Smock Alley Theatre. It featured speakers from key philanthropic organisations and the arts in Ireland. The conference was well attended and generated positive feedback and a full report on it may be found on my Department's website. Parallel to these initiatives, the Arts Council is undertaking an initiative which dovetails with the work in my Department. The initiative is called RAISE: Building Fundraising Capacity and consists of a programme that is providing one-to-one professional support to eight selected arts organisations for two years. The initiative is designed to assist in planning and implementing a tailored fund-raising programme for each organisation. Eight leading Irish arts organisations aim to raise €10 million in private funding over the next five years as part of this Arts Council initiative.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I commend the Minister on the positive report he has given. Members had a very useful debate in this Chamber a couple of months ago on the importance of philanthropy. This question was tabled conscious of a development that is of concern, namely, the exit from the Irish scene of Atlantic Philanthropies, which over the years has contributed €1.1 billion in funds to not-for-profit organisations, and of the One Foundation, set up by Declan Ryan, son of the late Tony Ryan, which has contributed €40 million. Between them, the aforementioned two organisations represent approximately 86% of philanthropic contributions in general. I accept the Minister's comment that unfortunately, only a small percentage of such moneys go towards the arts. Consequently, the initiative taken by the Minister is particularly welcome. However, at a time when these major donors appear intent on exiting the Irish stage, how can one ensure Ireland will get its comparative contributions? In this context, I note the United Kingdom gives 6% of its overall giving to the arts, while the equivalent figure in the United States is 5%. If the figures I have to hand are correct, even now, less than 1% is given in Ireland. What initiatives has the Minister in mind to address this issue?

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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First, obviously not all the funding from Atlantic Philanthropies or the other organisation mentioned by the Deputy was going towards the arts.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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No.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge the arts benefited to some extent, perhaps in the university sector. Basically, in this country approximately half a billion euro is available through philanthropic means on an annual basis, of which the arts generally get just 0.6%. As for total funding for the arts, approximately 3% comes from philanthropic sources. I am trying to create a culture here of philanthropic giving towards the arts and this is succeeding to an extent. In addition, I am trying to encourage organisations to seek such funding and a number of initiatives have taken place over the past two years, as I have outlined here. However, my Department also supports the Business to Arts organisation. It has a highly creative scheme called Fund It and a number of initiatives have resulted therefrom, as Business to Arts is doing really good work in this regard. I also am very encouraged by the efforts being made by organisations such as, for example, the National Archives, which last year succeeded in getting one quarter of a million euro from the Wellcome Trust, which was very important for it. I am encouraging the national cultural institutions, as much as possible, to seek funding from philanthropic sources. For example, representatives of the Abbey Theatre visited the United States recently, as did representatives of the National Concert Hall. These institutions are looking at possibilities for their projects, as is the National Gallery. Overall, a culture is developing within the national cultural institutions and in cultural organisations across the country towards trying to attract philanthropic contributions.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I seek one assurance from the Minister, which is that as such philanthropic contributions increase, as the Minister quite rightly directs the organisations to chase them, there will not be the sort of dramatic decline in State funding for such agencies that otherwise might happen.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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I have made that quite clear. As a result of the programme framework, all the organisations know precisely by how much their funding will be reduced next year. I have deliberately tried to keep Arts Council funding at as high a level as possible and the decrease in its funding was not commensurate with the decrease in the funding of other national cultural organisations because of the dependency of so many organisations on Arts Council funding. I made this commitment previously when I was referring to the review and reform of the national cultural institutions, namely, that in no way will there be a reduction in public funding because of an increase in philanthropic funding. I assure the Deputy that so doing would defeat the purpose. I am trying to gain additional funding for the arts through the philanthropic process to help bolster pre-existing funding. Consequently, the funding from the State must be guaranteed, albeit while looking at the opportunities that exist to attract philanthropic funding. As I know from my own experience, they exist.