Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, for taking this matter. In October last, she hosted a Zoom meeting to consider the matter of core funding for Yeats Society Sligo. At that meeting, attended by the director, Susan O'Keeffe, board members and all the local Deputies, it was clearly outlined to the Minister and her officials the urgent need for core operational funding to keep the society on life support while it planned for and worked towards a post-Covid future.

I do not need to convince the Minister of the immense value of the Yeats Society Sligo. It is more than 60 years old and celebrates the life and legacy of W.B. Yeats, our Nobel prize-winning poet, and his talented family. It is also worth noting that some of the people who set up the society were contemporaries of W.B. Yeats. At that time, they were way ahead of the curve. The society now operates the longest running international literary school in the world. It is running its summer school online this year. It has promoted Yeats, Sligo and Ireland to many generations of international summer school students and has significantly helped in consolidating his reputation as a global literary genius, which, in turn, greatly enhances Ireland's cultural standing.

As already stated, the Minister and her Department know all of this. They also know that the Yeats Society Sligo will close its doors at the end of September this year due to a lack of revenue unless core operational funding is sourced. The society cannot be just another casualty of Covid. We are talking about a reasonable amount of money to keep the doors open as the society begins to move towards a post-Covid future. In 2019, the society had 13,000 visitors and was on target for 16,000 in 2020. These visitors generated its revenue. The society was, and is, in profit but it now needs assistance. It has a small number of staff who worked really hard to create a vibrant cultural institution that contributes to the economy of Sligo and, crucially, helps to keep Sligo and Ireland right up there in the international artistic realm. One volunteer committee after another has fought hard for this for over 60 years but it is now in danger of being lost, just as the society is planning for the centenary of Yeats's Nobel prize in 2023. It is worth quoting the citation of the Nobel committee when awarding to W.B. Yeats. It said the award was: "for his always inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation."

Once again, I say that we cannot lose this or put it at risk. The question that I and the Yeats Society Ireland put to the Government is why does it not see fit to fund the work of a small charity which has an international reputation and which supports the national poet? I am not saying the Minister has completely turned her back on the society because she has not. The society has received grants, but they are project grants. They do not provide the operational funding that would allow the society to keep the doors open. I ask the Minister for core operational funding.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I am very much aware of the situation regarding the Yeats Society Sligo. Officials in my Department have been in regular communication with this organisation. As the Deputy has pointed out, the society has been in existence for 61 years and runs the long-standing and well-recognised annual Yeats summer school, which reaches out to students and lecturers in universities in major cities across the globe. Outside of this, the society runs a permanent Yeats exhibition, offers talks to visitors, locals and schools, and runs poetry events and creative writing and visual art classes for young and old.

As the Deputy mentioned, we, and other local Deputies, met with the Yeats Society Sligo last October. I wish to acknowledge the Deputy's strong advocacy and support for the arts in Ireland, and the Yeats Society Sligo. I subsequently received a request for annual funding required by the society to meet salary and operational costs. While it is challenging to consider entering into a new annual arrangement with any cultural body until the 2022 budget is decided, I will certainly be very mindful of the request in that context.

In the interim, I wish to inform the House that, in 2019, the society was awarded the maximum grant of €5,000 under the 2019 small local festival and summer schools scheme towards the annual Yeats summer school. Some 600 attendees participated across the nine-day event in 2019. No application was received from the society for this scheme in 2020. The results of the 2021 small local festival and summer schools scheme will be announced later this week, but I am happy to inform the House that, once again, the maximum grant of €5,000 will be awarded to the Yeats Society Sligo for its 2021 summer school. This is one of 28 projects awarded funding under the 2021 scheme, which has a total allocation of €96,391.

In addition, prior to the meeting in October, the Yeats Society Sligo was awarded the maximum grant of €20,000 under the audience re-engagement scheme for small, regional and specialised museums, which was a once-off scheme as part of my Department's response to the Covid-19 situation. The society has also applied under stream A of my Department's cultural capital scheme for 2019 to 2022 for building upgrades and a dedicated writers' room. The results of the application process relating to this scheme will be announced in the coming weeks.

On the wider matter, my Department provides annual funding to the National Library of Ireland, NLI, which houses the largest and most extensive W.B. Yeats collection anywhere in the world. The NLI also has a permanent Yeats exhibition, originally opened in 2006, which has since welcomed more than 1 million visitors. The significance and celebration of Yeats as one of the great giants of Irish and global literature is very much alive and the Department continues to have a core role in the preservation, display and dissemination of his work through institutions such as the NLI.

With regard to the Yeats Society Sligo's request, I have asked officials in my Department to assess the society's submission in the context of the 2022 budget. The provision of any funding would be in the context of an agreed strategy, possibly involving the local authority and other interests, with a timeframe and performance indicators for assessment of value in due course.

Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for her comprehensive reply, from which it is clear that she is actively engaging with the Yeats Society Sligo, which I know, and that she and her Department are putting serious thought into this matter. It is always valuable to get a response from a Minister that shows that he or she is engaging rather than simply reading out a prepared speech. In many ways, the Minister made a better case for the Yeats Society Sligo than I did in my four minutes. I am pleased to hear that she is minded to consider an application for funding. She mentioned the small local festivals and summer schools scheme and that the society will get €5,000 when the results of this are announced in the near future. Everything helps but the Minister and I know that this organisation is in serious financial trouble because of Covid. This is not the only organisation affected but it is the one we are discussing today. The society's accountants have said that it will have to close its doors by the end of September unless funding is found. The Minister mentioned other streams of funding. These are again very valuable and very appreciated but they relate to capital funding and will not help to open the doors in the morning and close them at night, to pay for electricity or insurance or to maintain the website, apps and so on. I understand that it is difficult to find a mechanism to provide core funding for the society but the Minister and I know that, where there is a will, there is a way. Covid has shown us that we can take exceptional measures. Having heard the Minister's response this morning, I am hopeful that a way will be found.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge the tremendous commitment of the many people involved in ensuring popular recognition and appreciation of the life and work of W.B. Yeats. More than any other figure, he personified the Irish cultural revival and informs our understanding of a revolutionary transformation of Ireland. The greatest among our literary figures of the age, Yeats is acknowledged in libraries, exhibitions, seminars, literary studies and monuments at home and abroad. It is of great importance that his genius be carried forward across the generations. I offer my thanks and encouragement to all of those who are engaged in the celebration and promotion of his achievement, including the Yeats Society Sligo.

It is appropriate that Yeats be remembered and honoured in Sligo and that students and admirers of Yeats have the opportunity to peruse themed exhibits and visit the tranquil and beautiful area that he found so inspirational and with which I am quite familiar. I greatly respect the work of the Yeats Society over its many years of dedicated interest and hope that it will be continued. I am particularly conscious that recent times have had unprecedented challenges for its programmes since constraints on travel and gathering have been in effect. I assure the Deputy and the House of my interest in contributing to a sustainable future for the centre operated by the Yeats Society. I have asked officials in my Department to meet the society as soon as possible to explore options for the future sustainable operation of the society. I thank the Deputy for her interest in this matter.