Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 36: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport the steps she has taken at Government level and within business and public sectors to reinforce the importance of the arts and culture from a societal and economic perspective; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27244/10]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Government Policy on the Arts is set out in the Programme for Government and further elaborated in my Department's Statement of Strategy. My policy is to promote and strengthen the arts, culture and creative sectors in all their forms, increase access to and participation in them, and make the arts an integral and valued part of our national life – socially and economically. It is my aim to continue to implement this policy directly through my own Department and to support the Arts Council, the Film Board, Culture Ireland and our National Cultural Institutions, working within the financial and other resources available to me.

The arts and culture sectors are vibrant and vital sectors of our economy; the wellspring, I believe, of many of our creative and innovative enterprises. These sectors are primary economic contributors, real businesses, enduring employers, and differentiators of us as a cultural and tourist destination. Arts and culture continue to be a uniquely powerful door-opener for Ireland internationally, especially in the United States. Following the Global Economic Forum in Farmleigh last year there has been a special focus at Government level to maximise the opportunities presented by the success of Ireland's artists to use culture as a calling card for Ireland and Irish business.

In that context, in March of this year, the Taoiseach appointed actor Gabriel Byrne as a Cultural Ambassador for Ireland. Culture Ireland is working closely with Gabriel Byrne in promoting Irish arts and culture in the United States and, in particular, in planning a major year-long programme of Irish arts which will take place in the US in 2011. This year, Culture Ireland has organised a strategic programme of cultural collaborations between Irish and Chinese artists and institutions to mark the Shanghai World Expo.

Our National Cultural Institutions continue to attract large numbers of visitors and are an important component of Ireland's business and cultural tourism product. In 2009, over 3 million people visited Cultural Institutions funded by my Department. The National Gallery is in the top 25 Galleries in Europe and visitor numbers to the National Museum surpass many illustrious contemporary museums in Europe and the USA. I am glad to say that visitor numbers to our cultural institutions are continuing to grow this year. Indeed, in the month after its re-opening the Natural History Museum had over 23,000 visitors.