Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I enjoyed my visit to west Cork, particularly Bantry last Saturday for the opening of the gaeilscoil. I was impressed by that wonderful facility, which comprised the gaelscoil, the coláiste phobail, the crèche and the naíonra. I thank the Senator for his attendance at the function.

The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht has taken a direct role in the provision of grant aid for arts and cultural infrastructure and allocated more than €150 million in funding for capital development of facilities throughout the country in recent years. The arts and culture capital enhancement support scheme, ACCESS, was designed to assist in the provision of high standard arts and culture infrastructural projects, thereby enhancing access to all aspects of the arts. The programme has been widely acknowledged as a significant intervention in this regard. Under the scheme, facilities funded to date include integrated arts centres, theatres and galleries, as well as art studios and other arts production and performance spaces. Almost €86 million has been granted to 120 projects, many of which are community-based arts groups.

The Department provides the bulk of capital funding for building and refurbishing arts facilities, mainly in the not-for-profit sector, while the Arts Council provides the ongoing revenue support for many facilities. Facilities that have been funded to date include integrated arts centres, theatres, galleries, studios and creative and performance spaces.

The first round of ACCESS II funding was announced in April 2007 and some €32 million was allocated to 67 projects. In May 2008 an additional €10 million was allocated to a further 13 capital projects. The emphasis of this round of ACCESS funding was on the enhancement and refurbishment of existing facilities. Only 30% of the funding was provided for new build projects.

Among the major ACCESS II projects assisted were the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Druid Theatre, the Cork Opera House, the Waterford Theatre Royal, the Gallery of Photography, the Model arts centre in Sligo, the Irish Film Institute, the Belltable in Limerick, the Wexford Arts Centre and the Sweeney Memorial Library in Kilrush. The West Cork Arts Centre in Skibbereen was allocated a capital grant of €1.5 million in April 2007 towards a project costing € 3.7 million. The project may go to tender in August this year. Tendering for the project is a matter for the project promoter, the West Cork Arts Centre, but this process is not yet complete. The timing of invitations to tender for this project is a matter solely for the promoters. Grant aid from the Department is subject to the terms and conditions in the original letter of offer of grant aid, Department of Finance procurement conditions being fully complied with, as well as the availability of funds in my Department. The Department at present is bound by very tight budgetary constraints and some projects will have to wait for capital drawdowns until 2013 and possibly later.