Joe Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 34: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the position regarding the work of the committee established to devise a strategy for closer links between education and the arts; when that committee will deliver its report; the make up of the committee; the terms of reference it has been working under; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5555/07]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the extent to which his Department is in contact with the Department of Education and Science with a view to promotion of the arts in primary and second level schools; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5934/07]

John O'Donoghue (Kerry South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 34 and 113 together.

Government policy for the Arts is set out in the Programme for Government and elaborated further in my Department's Statement of Strategy. Having regard for the statutory functions of the Arts Council as set out in Section 9 of the Arts Act 2003, and in accordance with section 21 of that Act, a Special Committee was established to advise the Arts Council on how best to align the Council's strategies for the promotion and encouragement of the arts with the priorities of the formal education system. The Committee should deliver its advice to the Council by 1st May 2007.

The five person Committee is chaired by Ms Mary Nunan, Arts Council member. The other members are Mr. Jerome Morrissey, National Centre for Training in Technology, Mr. Pat MacSitric, Assistant Chief Inspector, Department of Education and Science, Mr. Derek West, former Principal, Newpark Comprehensive School and Chair of NAPD Arts & Culture Committee and Ms Orlaith McBride, Arts Council member.

Acknowledging the contribution that the Arts can make to a rounded and balanced educational experience, the Committee will have regard to:

(a) the wide range of demands on the school curriculum bearing in mind that responsibility for determining the content of the school curriculum rests with the Minister for Education and Science;

(b) the need to prioritise and cost its recommendations; these recommendations must have regard both to their resource implications for the Arts Council and also to the fact that the budgetary resources likely to be available over the next four years to the Minister for Education and Science for development of services in the education sector must be allocated to fund existing policy commitments;

(c) subject to (b) above, the identification of what additional sources of funding, if any, might be available to fund its recommendations; and

(d) the roles and partnerships that are appropriate for relevant State and other agencies and bodies in this context, including the Department of Education and Science, the Arts Council, Vocational Education Committees, and Local Authorities.

The focus of the Special Committee's advice is to be on making specific deliverable recommendations for implementation over three to five years.