Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 94: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism when he will publish the report which was commissioned on the Arts in Education and which was presented to him by the Arts Council in May 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18208/08]

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 101: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism when he will publish and act on the Arts in Education Report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18487/08]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 94 and 101 together.

I am aware that the draft report prepared by the Special Committee on Arts and Education, jointly commissioned by my Department and the Department of Education and Science, has been under consideration by our two Departments with the Arts Council in recent months. I should point out however, that the publication of the report is in fact a matter for the Arts Council.

The Committee's remit was to advise the 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. This draft report represents the first study of this nature and deserves a practical and reasoned approach in considering its recommendations, which reflect the result of the wide-ranging and in-depth research that was conducted by the Committee and for which they are to be congratulated.

In this context, officials of my Department have organised a series of meetings with the Department of Education and Science and the Arts Council to consider the recommendations of the report. This interagency work group is currently in the process of identifying ways of giving practical effect to the crucial recommendations of the draft report and is drawing up specific actions designed to respond effectively and efficiently to its conclusions.

I would also like to point out that it is due in no small measure to the massive investments made in recent years by this Government to the capital and everyday costs of the worthwhile various arts entities throughout the country that we are in a position to have had such a study carried out.

In the past five years, for instance, my Department has allocated a total of €86 million towards the cost of providing vital arts and cultural infrastructure and venues for communities to present the arts in all its forms. Complementary to this the Arts Council has seen its resources increase exponentially from €47.67 million in 2002 to its present allocation of over €82 million in 2008, an increase of over 72%. The Arts Council in turn has at all times pursued a policy of engaging with young people, whether through its specific programmes or by its support of existing organisations that specialise in arts in education interventions, such as The Ark and Team in Dublin, Graffiti Theatre in Cork and Cups and Crowns Educational Theatre in Galway. These are signs of a maturity in our arts role and the integration of the arts into every aspect of our society.

The outcome of the Special Committee on Arts and Education will be a further piece in the jigsaw of this exciting and wide-ranging arts and education spectrum. I look forward to realising, as far as practicable, the conclusions of this work. This is an issue with which I will be familiarising myself over the coming weeks to form an approach in dealing with the recommendations of the report.