Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Arts, Irish and the Gaeltacht last met. [5893/17]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on Arts, Irish and the Gaeltacht last met. [7035/17]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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3. To ask the Taoiseach if the Cabinet Committee on Arts, Irish and the Gaeltacht has met since October 2016; and when it is planned to meet next. [7047/17]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the Cabinet Committee on Arts, Irish and the Gaelteacht. [8464/17]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Cabinet Committee on Arts, Irish, the Gaeltacht and the Islands last met on 13 October 2016. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, 27 February.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Last October the Taoiseach launched the Government's policy, polasaí don oideachas Gaeltachta. This claims to be focused on the provision of Irish medium education and to support the use of Irish as a living, indigenous language in Gaeltacht areas. Under this new strategy, schools will only be given Gaeltacht school recognition if they teach entirely through the medium of Irish. In order to improve the supply and quality of teachers, the policy includes the provision of a new Irish medium initial teacher education programme. The Department of Education and Skills, however, has yet to commence the drafting of a tender process for this. When that is done the successful provider has to turn the programme into action. This will mean that the additional teachers will not be available before September 2018. Is the Taoiseach satisfied with this timeframe? I have a real concern that the delay will undermine the ability of schools to meet the targets set by the Gaeltacht education policy. Will the Taoiseach indicate the current status of the tender process and will he update the Dáil on the overall policy?

Perhaps the Taoiseach will also update the Dáil on the ferry service to Inis Mór. Have the difficulties that arose before last Christmas been resolved? Will the Taoiseach also update the Dáil on what the Government is doing to ensure that gaeilgeoirí in the North have the protection of Acht na Gaeilge as promised in the St. Andrews Agreement in 2006?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The publication of the education policy in respect of Gaeltacht schools was the first since the foundation of the State. The policy was brought about by the realisation that there is a serious drop in the numbers of children especially who speak Irish on a full-time basis in the Gaeltacht. This was due to population trends, demographics and shifts in population and so on. For this reason the change was brought about to have a recognition, capacity and policy for Gaeltacht schools which will compete for that title. The method of teaching and full-time education through Irish is one of particular importance in building confidence and competence in the language, which in many ways is the reason why we have failure in other areas. This was welcomed by groups all over the country. It is a radical change from where were, that schools that happen to be in the Gaeltacht should be getting their own Gaeltacht policy. Obviously, there will be situations where this will cause some difficulty, but the policy has been well accepted since it was launched in An Cheathrú Rua by myself, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton, and the Minister of State with responsibility for Gaeltacht affairs, Deputy Seán Kyne. The schools will be recognised through a set of criteria such as teaching wholly through the medium of Irish in Gaeltacht areas, the comprehension and integrated range of additional supports that will be made available to schools that gain recognition as Gaeltacht schools and so on. The Department is working through the Straitéis 20 Bliain don Ghaeilge.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Humphreys, a number of questions about Creative Ireland which the Taoiseach and the Minister announced to a great deal of fanfare before Christmas. The answers were distinctly lacking in detail about what exactly Creative Ireland is going to mean and what is the long-term commitment. I understand that €5 million is allocated to Creative Ireland, which does not seem to be a very large amount. Some €1 million allocated to local authorities for community programmes and spread out among all our local authorities seems like a fairly derisory amount. The arts community has a question. Is that additional €5 million a long-term, ongoing commitment or is it a once-off €5 million? How is that money to be spent and what will it be spent on?

I also asked the Minister, and did not get clarity, about social welfare entitlements for artists.

There was a specific request that artists, who often work intermittently but who do not get paid when they are not directly employed or employed in the business of creating work, would need specific recognition in regard to jobseeker's allowance. I seek clarity on what the Government is going to do to assist our artists and not have them chased up.

I have no doubt about the Taoiseach's creative talents and his talent for storytelling and so on but I was a little surprised that Creative Ireland is going to be directed by himself and a number of senior Ministers with no advice from actual artists themselves. Will he explain why it is the Taoiseach and Ministers who will direct Creative Ireland, rather than having advice from actual artists, if we are to have a grassroots approach to developing the arts?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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We brought in the artistic community to the Cabinet sub-committee and they were very appreciative of the consideration of a programme for Creative Ireland. The fact it will be monitored from the Department of the Taoiseach means it has particular clout in terms of co-ordination, such as applied during the centenary celebratory events for 1916. It was obvious during those commemorative centenary events that communities all over the country displayed outstanding leadership and creativity in so many ways, from the children doing their little poems, plays and pictures and so on, to receiving the national flag in every school, to older children writing their proclamations and their version of the Constitution, to their elders and seniors, parents and grandparents, talking about their involvement in 1916. It is that creative force, that imaginative force, that will prevent communities from fracturing once they are allowed to participate.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Government took away the €50 million it gave them.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The money is not a once-off and it is going to continue and the base of €18 million is there for the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs for the future. There will also be what is called Cruinniú na Cásca, whereby Easter Monday every year will be allocated for artistic and imaginative endeavour. I notice there is now public art on the major roads throughout the country, which provides opportunities for artists to be creative in particular locations and to reflect geography and history in what they produce. The programme is there for the Deputy to see.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It is lacking in detail.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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We all know about the STEM subjects - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - but, as has been pointed out on many occasions, the aim is to put artistic, imaginative and creative endeavour at the centre of public policy. If we inserted that into STEM, we would get STEAM, which would show the two sides of the use of people's imaginative qualities, whether it be music or physics, mathematics or architecture, or whatever. All of these things provide a real opportunity. Cruinniú na Cásca will be an important element every year.

The Creative Ireland programme was launched in the National Gallery. Extraordinary work has been done on the presentation of the gallery and it is going to be an outstanding edifice for the next 100 years. I look forward to that. Creative Ireland is an important element which, I must say to Deputy Boyd Barrett, was welcomed unanimously by all of the artistic groups, which said it is the first time there has been a realistic attempt to centralise art, artistic work, creative work and imaginative work as part of public policy. It is being monitored by the Department of the Taoiseach so we can publish and timeline the actions that are to be undertaken.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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To pick up on a point raised in the Taoiseach's previous reply, he will recall we put in significant funding on the capital side for the 1916 centenary commemorations. The argument was very strongly made by my colleague, Deputy Burton, that this should be embedded in capital funding for the arts because it is an area that has been lacking in capital funding, although we put in a rolling €5 million per annum for arts centres and so on. Is it is intended to keep that €50 million? The Taoiseach indicated it was being left in place. What specifically will it be paid out for?

With regard to the next phase of commemorations, given we are coming up to the commemoration of the War of Independence and the end of the First World War, is it planned to have specific commemorations of those events and others? Will the Taoiseach indicate exactly what is envisaged?

With regard to the Irish language and the Gaeltacht, under Acht na Gaeltachta 2012 it was envisaged we would have a different look at what constitutes a Gaeltacht and that it would not necessarily be a geographical area but a nexus of Irish speakers. While it may sound fanciful to some, my former colleague Robert Dowds had proposed, for example, that there was a sufficient number of people in Clondalkin who could have the designation of being in a Gaeltacht. Is there any out-of-the-box thinking to promote the Irish language in a new way in areas, including urban areas, where there is a high regard for the spoken language?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It is an interesting concept. In 2016 a once-off €49 million was made available for the centenary programme under the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, which included €18 million in current funding and €31 million in capital funding. As the Deputy is aware, some of the once-off projects that were finished included the visitor centre at the GPO, Richmond Barracks, the Kevin Barry rooms at the National Concert Hall, the Athenaeum in Wexford and others in Dublin that will stand the test of time. The Department retained the majority of the €18 million in current funding for 2017 and it is now part of the base for the arts division of the Department, meaning this will be available in future years. As Deputy Howlin is aware, 2016 was a particular year given it was the centenary year.

We do not have the details worked out for each of the years up to 2022 and 2023. I have made the point before that, as was reflected in the 1916 centenary year, we now have time to plan what we are going to have to do as a nation, and as a people, for 2020, 2021 and 2022, and for the War of Independence and the Civil War. As a mature country, given people went to extraordinary lengths to show a different mentality and a different Ireland during the centenary year, it is a question of how we can bridge the gap across the sensitivities of the Civil War. We have the time and the opportunity to plan imaginatively as to how that might be reflected in a centenary commemoration.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Who is working on that?

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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We do not have the details worked out but obviously, it is a matter for communities all over the country to put forward suggestions as to how this might be commemorated. As Deputy Howlin is aware, many of those events are much more sensitive and raw than those of 1916. I would think that, given how we have reflected a maturity about the centenary commemorative year, we can do the same for 2018 and 2021.

I acknowledge there are locations here in Dublin where there is more Irish spoken than in many Gaeltacht areas. This is an issue that is being looked at in the context of what constitutes the spoken language and where it is spoken, as distinct from just having a geographical boundary. The former Minister, Patrick Lindsay, when he was asked at the Cabinet table why he had not put Bangor Erris into the Gaeltacht, given he had responsibility for the breac-Ghaeltacht, said, "Surely, you are not telling me that Bangor Erris is an Irish-speaking area", and he only lived three or four miles from there himself.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I believe the arts portfolio is in the wrong Department. It was a makey-up type of creation at the formation of the Government and the artistic community rightly rebelled against it. The one good dividend from it was that it led to a reconsideration by the Government as a whole on the arts front. While the Creative Ireland document is positive in itself, there is a lack of beef, a lack of capacity, in terms of the funding behind it. Overall, there has been a lack of vision regarding the arts and a lack of a national policy towards the arts in the last five or six years that fully embraces and utilises the energies of local authorities and the Department of Education and Skills, along with the Arts Council and others, to support artists and to develop strong support of arts and culture throughout the country.

When the Taoiseach says a majority of the €18 million in current funding was used in the 1916 spending programme, how much was retained for current arts funding in 2017? How much of the capital funding of €31 million was retained, or has it been classed as once-off and, hence, dramatically reduced?

Around the country there are a lot of art centre schemes that could be upgraded and that need development.

Maidir leis na Gaeltachtaí agus leis an nGaeilge, is léir go bhfuil feabhas mór tagtha ar labhairt agus ar chruinneas na Gaeilge ar fud na tíre de bharr an réablóid sa Ghaelscolaíocht. Tá i bhfad níos mó daoine óga anois in ann an teanga a labhairt go líofa agus go nádúrtha de bharr na Gaelscoileanna. Ach ní hé sin fáth nó réasún chun tacaíocht a tharraingt siar ós na Gaeltachtaí. Tá níos mó ná an Ghaeilge amháin ag baint leis na Gaeltachtaí. Tá cultúr ann agus, de ghnáth, is áiteanna iargúlta iad. Ba chóir an infheistíocht atá ann a choiméad sna Gaeltachtaí.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Tá an t-am istigh.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Tá deacracht agam faoi cad tá faoi chaibidil ag an Rialtas mar léiríonn sé, b'fhéidir, go mbainfear tacaíocht ós na Gaeltachtaí diaidh ar ndiaidh. Caithfimid níos mó cabhair a thabhairt dóibh. Go háirithe, ba chóir ionad a chur ar fáil chun níos mó cabhair agus tacaíocht a thabhairt do dhaoine chun an Ghaeilge a mhúineadh go héifeachtúil ar fud na tíre.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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As the document points out, one is dealing here with the issue of the five pillars enabling the creative potential of every child, enabling creativity in every community, investing in our creative and cultural infrastructure, Ireland as a centre of excellence in media production, and unifying our global reputation. When one goes through all of those, the different headings point out that there is scope here for every person, who has got a proposition that is in any way creative or imaginative, to participate in this. The education centres around the country, the little artistic centres around the country, the arts officers in the local authorities and the schools themselves, in arts and crafts, creativity and play have played an extraordinary part in boosting the understanding and the importance of the arts. We hope that Cruinniú na Cásca, which will be on Easter Monday of each year, will bring about something like what happened in September where 1,400 events took place around the country involving children and young people in some artistic endeavour. That is what this is about.

Clearly, the following funding was provided: €2 million for the opening of the newly restored historic wings of the National Gallery, the opening of Killarney House on foot of significant investment by the State, an increase of €2 million for the Irish Film Board and €1 million for Culture Ireland; and funding of €5 million for the implementation of Creative Ireland. Obviously, we would love to have had funding for so many other events but we did not have it. We are building on that, as the economy improves.

Ó thaobh chúrsaí mhúineadh na Gaeilge de, ba chóir go mbeadh athbhreithniú ar na modhanna múinteoireachta Gaeilge. Ó thaobh na Gaeltachta féin de, cuireadh fáilte mhór roimh an straitéis nua agus tá súil agam go láidreoidh sé sin as seo amach. Nuair a bheidh na teidil agus na freagraí tugtha, ag éirí as na coinníollacha a bheith comhlínte, tá súil agam go mbeidh tacaíocht le fáil taobh istigh de na Gaeltachtaí agus do na Gaeltachtaí agus ní hamháin ó Údarás na Gaeltachta agus nithe eile ach ó thaobh cúrsaí oideachais freisin agus go mbeidh an togha den líofacht agus taithí sin le fáil ag gasúir, cibé as a dtagann siad, a bheidh ag freastal ar scoileanna Gaeltachta sna Gaeltachtaí.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Bogfaimid ar aghaidh anois go dtí an chéad grúpa eile.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Tá ceist agam agus tá mé sa ghrúpa seo.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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An raibh ceist ag an Teachta roimhe seo?

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Ní raibh.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Táimid thar am.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Ceist ghearr atá agam don Taoiseach faoi Log an Lá i gContae Chill Mhantáin.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Táimid thar am.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Luggala, in County Wicklow, an estate of 5,000 acres which is currently open to the public, is owned by the Guinness family trust and has been in the care and guardianship of Garech Browne, whom the Taoiseach possibly knows and who has been very involved in the promotion of Irish music and the arts over a long period of time.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Tá sé thar am.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I would like to know whether the Cabinet Committee on Arts, Irish and the Gaeltacht has had an opportunity to discuss this. The estate may be bought by a private buyer and access to the public is a vital part of the facilities for walking which are available to the public.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Denis O'Brien, God forbid.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Tá an Teachta thar ama.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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It is one of the most iconic beautiful spots in Ireland.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Tá an Teachta thar ama.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Has this been discussed, either by the Cabinet or by the Cabinet committee?

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Burton normally observes the time.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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It has not been discussed by the Cabinet and it is not been discussed by the Cabinet committee.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Taoiseach would want to get on with that.

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I heard reports of the Minister of State with responsibility for regional economic development, Deputy Ring, saying he would be quite prepared to negotiate or discuss with the owners of Luggala. I point out to Deputy Burton that Westport House, a magnificent building there for so many years, was bought by a local family and will be kept open to the public. It is wonderful to see a situation where, after so many years, a local family is in a position to buy something like Westport House and keep it for the people of Westport in public view and for those who will travel there. Obviously, the Minister is looking at the question of Luggala but it has not been discussed by Cabinet and it has not been raised or discussed at the Cabinet Committee because the Minister of State is looking at it at present.