Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for affording me the opportunity to raise this issue, which is a very important matter locally. I thank the Minister for coming into the House to reply to the debate.

The matter I raise refers to The Moat Club in Naas, County Kildare, which is famous for its traditional fostering of the arts in drama and music and also for the number of people it has assisted, promoted and attracted to its facilities over the years. The centre is renowned locally and nationally for the quality and professionalism of its performances.

Like all voluntary organisations, The Moat Club has ongoing funding needs, and in order to comply with health and safety requirements and to ensure patrons, staff and all associated with it are in a safe environment, the club made an application to the Minister for grant aid in the current year. Unfortunately, due to a number of issues that were beyond my control and that of most others, the club did not qualify for funding. An application had been made for in excess of €180,000 and it was a huge blow to the club that it did not get it, given that it was relying on the funding to continue its performances in the future, to keep the quality and standards high, and to ensure that it operated in a safe environment. However, that was not to be but that is another story. The show goes on and we must find ways and means to ensure the club operates in a safe environment.

The Minister has access to some funding later in the year which could possibly facilitate groups and organisations such as The Moat Club in Naas. It would be money well spent. I ask the Minister to favourably consider an application from the club for funding when the time comes. The town and its environs suffered considerably during the downturn in the economy and it is taking somewhat longer to recover than some of the other towns in the area. In those circumstances, it is of particular importance that we would apply ourselves to the best of our ability to try to ensure that the funding required by the club, or at least most of it, might be made available to it in the shortest possible time.

The club is a local community organisation that has put on shows for generations. It has won awards at national and international level and people of international stature perform at the club. I refer, for example, to Celine Byrne, Rebecca Storm, Tommy Fleming, John Kenny and Mary McEvoy, Ballet Ireland, Neil Delamere and Pat Shortt, who have all performed there with distinction. A total of 23,000 people go through the doors to support those performances on an annual basis. The club provides five to six shows every year and it is renowned for the quality of the performances. The Minister knows the story and I urge her to bear it in mind when the time comes for the allocation of the remaining resources within the Department which could aptly be applied to this organisation.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Durkan for raising this matter. The arts and culture capital scheme is the most significant investment in regional arts and cultural centres in a decade. This kind of investment goes to the very heart of what I am trying to achieve through Creative Ireland and the Action Plan for Rural Development. Creative Ireland aims to place culture and creativity at the heart of every community nationwide, while the rural action plan seeks to revitalise rural towns and villages through a range of investments and initiatives. The Creative Ireland programme places a focus on investing in our cultural infrastructure, because high quality infrastructure is critical for a vibrant arts and culture sector, which in turn underpins social cohesion and supports sustainable economic growth.

I have visited numerous arts and cultural centres in recent years, and it is abundantly clear to me that we are well served in terms of the number of centres nationwide. The main objective of the capital grants is to maintain and enhance the existing stock of arts and culture centres across the country, many of which need to be upgraded. In that regard, more than 85% of the investment is going to projects outside Dublin. The scheme was considerably over-subscribed. My Department received 106 applications in total under stream 1 and 2 requesting funding of just over €20 million. Detailed selection criteria and eligibility requirements were published in the guidelines of the scheme. There was a two-stage assessment process. The first stage involved all applications being reviewed on receipt to ensure eligibility. All eligible applications were then forwarded to an assessment panel which undertook the second stage of the assessment of the applications which advanced from stage one. The assessment panel reviewed each eligible application within the defined criteria and scored them accordingly. The recommendations were then forwarded to me for decision as set out in the published scheme conditions. Following the assessment process, 56 projects are being funded and will benefit from this capital investment, including theatres, heritage centres, galleries, archives, integrated arts centres, artist studios and creative and performance spaces.

Unfortunately, some organisations, including the project to which the Deputy refers, have been unsuccessful on this occasion as they did not meet the eligibility criteria as set out under the terms of the scheme. However, my Department is happy to engage with each applicant on the specific applications. In this regard, my Department has been in contact with the applicant, which has since forwarded the outstanding documentation not provided at the time of the application. Should further funding become available, this application can be given further consideration. Unsuccessful applicants have also been informed of the stream three small capital grant scheme for arts and cultural facilities, which I will be announcing shortly. It will be geared towards providing smaller capital grants of up to €20,000 to not-for-profit organisations with a defined arts and cultural remit. Whereas the amounts involved are relatively modest, the grants will in themselves make a major difference to individual organisations.

I understand the disappointment of the Moat Theatre and arts centre, which is run on a totally voluntary basis, as the Deputy noted. I understand its disappointment but my Department is happy to work with the organisation.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I hope that in the course of the discussions that take place in the near future, it will be possible to identify the most likely opportunities to make some funding available. I do not wish to select one particular aspect of the application against another as that could be worked out in the course of the discussions taking place now. The organisation would be extremely grateful and appreciative as it put in a major effort. There are approximately 40 people in the voluntary group who are always involved with the productions and fund-raising, and that is happening now. They are not looking for a handout as they are well capable of making fund-raising efforts themselves. They do that all the time. Having exhausted their facilities at various levels, they need to move to the next stage. Meeting health and safety requirements is fundamental to everything they do and stand for. The Minister would agree it is very important that we meet health and safety requirements on an ongoing basis. Anything that happens in that area usually brings a negative response.

I hope the Minister will find ways and means to address the issue in a favourable way. To quote the old phrase, the show must go on. It cannot go on unless we have resources and meet health and safety requirements. I hope that some time in the current year, one or more aspects of the theatre's programme might be funded under the headings already referred to by the Minister.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I know the Deputy is very committed to and passionate about the Moat Theatre and the good work it does in Naas and the surrounding communities in Kildare. Volunteers are the backbone of communities right across the country, doing much work while giving up their time. I acknowledge that. This theatre underwent major upgrade works in 2003 and it has a 200-seat auditorium with retractable seating in place. I know it has an excellent programme of events coming up in the next few weeks, including "Some Like it Hot", an evening of one-act plays and Pat Shortt, just to name a few. It is certainly a very active theatre, which is good to see.

Various clubs and organisations in my constituency were not successful in getting funding and I understand the absolute disappointment coming from that. The arts and culture capital scheme was designed to be as flexible as possible to ensure projects of varying sizes could benefit. The vast majority of eligible applications received some level of funding. Seven flagship projects will receive substantial funding allocations, including the €1 million investment in the Riverbank Theatre in Kildare. A further 49 projects will receive funding ranging from €20,000 to €276,000. All these projects aim to improve the audience and creative experience. This funding package will also ensure past investment in these arts and cultural centres will be protected and sustained.

My Department has received the necessary additional information from Moat Theatre and should further funding become available, my Department will consider the matter at that stage. The application is valid and on a shortlist. I would be very optimistic that support will be forthcoming. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter.