Dáil debates

Tuesday, 23 January 2018

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Other Questions

Creative Ireland Programme

5:25 pm

Photo of James BrowneJames Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

72. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the way in which the Creative Ireland programme will utilise the National Opera House, Wexford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2809/18]

Photo of James BrowneJames Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Will the Minister make a statement as to how the Creative Ireland programme will utilise the National Opera House in Wexford?

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Creative Ireland programme is a cross-Government initiative to mainstream culture and creativity in the life of the nation and to promote individual, community and national well-being. It aims to put creativity at the centre of public policy. While the programme is under the aegis of my Department, its implementation will primarily be through and in collaboration with existing agencies, local authorities, cultural institutions, State bodies and other cultural partners.

The National Opera House in Wexford already plays a huge role in the creative and cultural life of the nation as well as being an anchor resource in County Wexford and the south east.  Through its existing role, the opera house contributes to the aims of the Creative Ireland programme and I have no doubt that engagement will deepen over the coming years as it develops its services with the support of my Department, the Arts Council, Wexford County Council and others partners. The focus of the Creative Ireland programme in 2017 was on delivering ten major initiatives, further details of which are available on the website at www.creative.ireland.ie. The focus in 2018 will be on implementing the children's youth plan and the local authority culture and creativity strategies among other initiatives. There will be plenty of scope for the National Opera House in Wexford to play its part in that process.

I am sure the Deputy has the Creative Ireland Wexford culture and creativity plan document. The foreword states:

Wexford is a unique and creative county with a rich cultural heritage. County Wexford is known for its Opera Festival, its world renowned writers, its creative thinkers, its new generation of designers and its community of talented artists, musicians and performers.

The Opera House is mentioned further on in the main body of the text. We all know the opera festival which takes place in Wexford and I have no doubt that the opera house will be used in conjunction with the local authority also.

Photo of James BrowneJames Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The National Opera House in Wexford is hugely important in our county. The real champions are those who worked for the past 66 years to build up the National Opera House as a cultural icon nationally and internationally. They had the vision to drive on and create a purpose-built opera house in Ireland and they kept that going. There has been significant public investment in the construction of the opera house with €31 million provided by Fianna Fáil-led governments. It was officially opened in 2008 by the then Taoiseach, Brian Cowen. The investment is very much reflected in the outstanding architectural design of the opera house building. I am not sure if the Minister has been there, but the building is stunning. It is Ireland's only purpose-built opera house and it constitutes a legacy for generations to come. How exactly do Creative Ireland and the Minister intend to take advantage of this first-class venue's potential to attract national and international events and audiences and to promote Wexford itself?

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have not been to the opera house yet and will not pretend I have, although I have seen photographs. I like the opera and I intend to visit, I hope soon. Under my predecessor, the Department provided a grant for €250,000 for 2018. The Department also provides occasional capital grants to upgrade equipment at the opera house due to its significance. The Arts Council is, of course, the main funder of the annual opera festival which takes place there.

Creative Ireland Wexford's plan is integral to the use of the opera house into the future. There are plans to expand the opera house which the Department is open to discussing. The local authority has received €64,000 this year. That is a doubling of the funding to the local authority and, as such, it should be able to use it also. Under pillar 2, the Creative Ireland programme does not prescribe what we do with the opera house and I am sure that the local authority, which is the primary instrument of community engagement for the programme, will utilise Wexford Opera House in the best way.

Photo of James BrowneJames Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is not in my gift to issue an official invitation to the Minister but I am sure the committee in Wexford would be delighted to have her down. Her predecessor visited the opera festival in 2014. In part, I am trying shamelessly to promote Wexford and the opera house itself, but I have highlighted with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, Deputy Doherty, and the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, the fact that Wexford has massive unmet potential. One of its key strengths is the opera house but we have a great deal of other potential there also. I wanted to highlight the opera house to the Minister to keep it on the agenda.

Photo of Josepha MadiganJosepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have every intention to visit the opera house in Wexford. Other creative work is going on in the county, including Living Arts, the arts in schools programme in partnership with the Wexford Arts Centre and contemporary artists, and Film Wexford which seems to have taken off and aims to attract film companies to Wexford locations. There is also the Graves & Company project to catalogue and prepare for digitisation a large number of original documents relating to a prominent shipping company in New Ross which was linked to emigration to Savannah, Georgia, from the 1840s to the 1860s. That is a bit of history for the Deputy. There are a lot of creative programmes in place with the culture team driven by the local authority. I hope and have no doubt that they will use the opera house into the future.