Written answers
Wednesday, 29 September 2010
Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism
Arts Funding
11:00 pm
Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 1393: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport the funding provided by her Department to local authorities in respect of spending on arts related projects in each of the past five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32499/10]
Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Question 1398: To ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport her plans to ensure that local authority arts projects are supported by the State over the next three years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32814/10]
Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1393 and 1398 together.
Primary responsibility for the promotion of the arts at all levels throughout the country is devolved to the Arts Council which, under the Arts Act, is independent in its funding decisions. The allocation to the Arts Council for 2010 is €68.6m from which the Arts Council may provide funding to local authorities towards the arts.
My Department is responsible for the provision of capital monies for the arts such as arts centres, galleries and theatres. Under the ACCESS 11 programme, funding has been provided for around 80 projects. Some of these were local authority lead projects and the table below shows the total funding allocated under the ACCESS programme to local authorities during the period 2005-2010.
| Year | Funding Allocated to Local Authorities for Arts Capital Projects |
| € | |
| 2005 | 40,000 |
| 2007 | 6,785,000 |
| 2008 | 4,300,000 |
| 2009 | Nil* |
| 2010 | Ni* |
| Total | 11,125,000 |
| *No ACCESS programme allocation in these years. |
There are other projects supported by local authorities but which were not local-authority-lead projects. A list of the successful ACCESS II projects and the amount of grant aid allocated to each project is available on my Department's website.
The increase in the availability of facilities and the enhancement of their quality, as a result of the arts capital schemes, has greatly improved access to and participation in the arts for a great many people.
Funding for the arts for 2011 will be decided in the context of the ongoing Estimates process.
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