Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 138: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she will consider instructing bodies under her aegis such as Enterprise Ireland to present the work of Irish visual artists as part of their international work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42298/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism, in cooperation with the Office of Public Works (OPW), operates the "Per Cent for Art Scheme". Under the Scheme, all Government Departments and their Agencies are required to spend up to 1% of their budget for capital projects on art, subject to certain maximum limits. A set of national guidelines was published by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism in 2004, the purpose of which was to outline a common national approach to the implementation of the Scheme and to provide a set of basic operational procedures to assist staff concerned in the process.

Following representations from the Secretary General of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism in October 2007, my Department wrote to the Chief Executives of all the Agencies under the auspices of my Department, including Enterprise Ireland, enclosing a copy of the 2004 guidelines produced by the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism and exhorting them to co-operate in ensuring that the Scheme was adopted and promoted in respect of all construction projects for which their Agencies were responsible. In these circumstances it is considered that it is not necessary for me or my Department to issue any further instructions to the State Agencies that come under the aegis of the Department.