Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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8. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the amount of Creative Ireland funding committed for 2019 and 2020; and the committed funding, by county and project, in tabular form. [8691/19]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Will the Minister set out the amounts being committed in 2019 and 2020 for Creative Ireland's budget? Will she set out in an ancillary table the committed funding, by county? Will she highlight the significant projects in various parts of the country that Creative Ireland will fund? What interaction, if any, does it have with the Arts Council?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for the question. A budget of €7.15 million was provided as part of budget 2019 to further the delivery of the Creative Ireland programme. This will ensure the Department can build on the work accomplished in 2017 and 2018, continue to drive implementation of the programme at local level and fund specific projects, actions and priorities that further the wider aims of the programme.

A total of €1.86 million of the above budget has been allocated to the implementation of the creative youth plan in 2019. This includes doubling the number of creative schools from 150 to 300 primary, post-primary and Youthreach schools, increasing continual professional development courses and broadening our reach beyond the arts to creative practices among other initiatives.

A sum of €2 million has been allocated among all 31 local authorities to enable them implement their five-year culture and creative strategies, which I launched last September with An Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, whose Department is providing an additional sum of €1 million to local authorities.

Each local authority will, therefore, receive a total of approximately €96,000 in 2019 to fund a comprehensive local programme of activities. Some €800,000 has been allocated lo Cruinniú na nÓg, which will take place on 15 June 2019 and which aims to get children and young people involved in creative activities with an emphasis on making, doing, seeing and experiencing. Every local authority has been allocated specific funding in addition to its programme funding for local activities. We will also be running an extensive awareness-raising campaign nationally and regionally to get as many young people involved on the day as possible.

Approximately €1 million has been allocated to the national creativity fund, which was launched in May 2018. The 30 partnership projects being funded under this scheme were initiated in 2018 and will significantly add value, scale or both to the wider implementation of the programme. They will also help inform policy and cross-sectoral development in the area of culture, creativity, health and well-being. The scheme focuses on three areas: individual and collective well-being; innovation; and connecting communities.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The remainder of the budget will be agreed in the coming weeks in line with the priorities for the Creative Ireland programme in 2019. These priorities include enhancing the potential of the wider creative industries. Other costs relating to targeted citizen engagement initiatives, research and costs associated with the effective running of the Creative Ireland programme office will also be agreed in the coming weeks.

The Deputy will appreciate that the overall allocations to each of the above elements at this point are approximate and may vary throughout the year as the programme unfolds. The matter of funding in 2020 will be examined in the context of the usual annual budgetary Estimates.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Did I understand the Minister to say that the programme will be expanded from 150 schools to 300?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Yes.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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There are thousands of schools in the country. I am really anxious that schools in the delivering equality of opportunity in schools, DEIS, system and schools in less well-off areas are able to access this very important programme as soon as possible. Perhaps the Minister could tell us about that.

The second point I want to make is that much of Creative Ireland will result in events at local community and regional level. That is all to the good. However, there is a crisis in the arts community concerning remuneration for people who work in the arts, who are employed not on a full-time basis but part-time or as events arise. Does the Minister's Department have an embedded policy to ensure that people working at different levels in these programmes get a living wage, or at least a minimum wage? I am not aware of the Department having a policy of ensuring that all the people employed on a part-time, full-time or temporary basis at the events it supports are paid a living wage.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy has raised a few questions there. DEIS schools are the subject of another parliamentary question, as is the issue of the minimum wage. I can address those now. I will go into DEIS schools in more detail in reply to the Deputy's other question. If my memory serves me correctly, 41 DEIS schools are involved. Many schools can participate in the creative youth scheme. It cannot be open to just one type of school. It has to be a cross-section. If my memory serves me correctly, 41 out of the 150 schools participating in the present scheme are DEIS schools. I note also that the scheme will be expanded to 300 schools.

In regard to the national minimum wage and a living wage, I note that as a voluntary initiative the living wage has no legislative basis and confers no statutory entitlement. The national minimum wage, on the other hand, has a legislative basis. It confers a statutory entitlement on employees and a statutory obligation on employers. I am not sure of the other questions the Deputy mentioned. In general, Creative Ireland will receive funding of €7.15 million, which is an increase of €1.15 million this year. It will primarily support the culture and creativity teams established in every local authority and allow for the continued roll-out of the creative youth programme, which is of wonderful assistance to children.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The reason I am raising the issue of DEIS schools and a living or minimum wage in this and in other questions is this that the young people to whom the Minister has referred, who are at the start of their career working in the arts, find it difficult to get adequate remuneration. The Minister and the Government will be aware that rents are now sky high. If people involved in the arts are to live independent lives it is critical that all the funding organisations that deal with the arts support a move to at least a minimum wage, and preferably a living wage. When I was Tánaiste, I secured a deal with Fine Gael to advance a minimum wage in this country and set up a Low Pay Commission to look at issues affecting people on very low pay and in precarious work. The arts are particularly affected by this. Is the Minister is developing any kind of policy to deal with the real problem of very low and precarious pay and work in the arts sector, particularly among young people?

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy was part of the Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition which cut funding for the arts and culture from the already low level of €139 million in 2011 to €125 million in 2013, a decrease of almost 10%. The current Government and I, as Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, have been increasing capital and current funding for the arts back to sustainable and required levels. While the Deputy criticises support for artists, as Minister for Social Protection she introduced the heavily criticised JobBridge programme, which the National Youth Council of Ireland said required significant reform if it was to provide participants with a worthwhile experience that would help them to secure employment.

The Deputy raised the idea of precarious employment, which she has done on numerous occasions in this House. With regard to legal protections for workers across the arts sector, it is important to note that employees in every industry and sector are entitled to all existing legal protections. As Members will be aware, legislation sponsored by my colleague, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection, is working its way through the Houses. This should improve the security and predictability of working hours for employees on insecure contracts and for those working variable hours. The existing protections of employment law also have a role to play . There are institutions for reporting abuse of employment legislation, as the Deputy is aware. I am satisfied that in general the industry works to a high standard.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I am sure the Minister is aware that there is a thriving arts community in Ireland. I know she has met various people. We had a searing presentation a couple of weeks ago from mostly young people working in the arts outlining how precarious and low their income was. The Minister chose to go back to the bank collapse in this country. Happily, I was part of the Government that got the country out of the mess it was in but we do not have time to debate that now. Now, on the Minister's watch, young people in the arts are increasingly finding it next to impossible to make a decent living. Does the Department have a policy? Does the Minister have a policy for practitioners and people working in the arts? What we heard in the recent presentation in the AV room would draw a tear from a stone. Young people cannot afford rent because they are working in the arts. They love what they do but they need a living wage. Older people in the arts literally cannot afford rent and cannot qualify for social housing. I am asking the Minister to get engaged.

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Labour Party was in government and was a party to the cuts in public expenditure, although the party dishonestly campaigned against austerity before the election. The Government's focus is on increasing funding for the arts and we have been doing that. This is evidenced by the Taoiseach's repeated commitment to doubling funding over a ten-year period. As I said, there is a 13% increase in funding for my Department in this year's Estimates. There is a €6.8 million increase in funding for the Arts Council of Ireland - an increase of 10% - which the National Campaign for the Arts welcomed.

Capital funding of €1.2 billion was announced, as part of the national development plan, for culture, heritage and the Gaeltacht over the ten years to 2028. It includes a €460 million investment programme in our national cultural institutions and a €200 million audiovisual action plan which I launched last summer. The Government will continue to consider measures to deliver further on its commitments. It will balance supports, however, to ensure they are felt across the sector. I am pleased that we, in Fine Gael, are doing everything we can to support artists with the resources available.