Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 279: To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the level of funding the Arts Council has received for the past five years; the funding allocated to Aosdána either by him or by the Arts Council for the past five years; the purpose of this Aosdána funding; if he will publish a list of members of Aosdána and the public funding that it receives from him or the Arts Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29610/11]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The Arts Council established Aosdána in 1981 to honour those artists whose work has made an outstanding contribution to the arts in Ireland and to encourage and assist members in devoting their energies fully to their art. Membership of the organisation, which is by peer nomination and election, is limited to 250 living artists, who have produced a distinguished body of work. Members of the organisation must also have been born in Ireland or have been resident here for five years. Members of Aosdána are eligible to receive from the Arts Council a 'Cnuas'– a means-tested annuity for a term of five years - to assist them in concentrating their time and energies in the full-time pursuit of their art.

Details of the current membership of Aosdána and a schedule of those members in receipt of the Cnuas are available on the Arts Council website at www.artscouncil.ie. The table shows my Department's grant-in-aid to the Arts Council along with funding provided by the Arts Council to Aosdána over the five year period from 2006-2010. My Department does not award funding directly to Aosdána.

*Comprises the Cnuas (the stipend paid to Aosdána members in need of financial support), pension contributions and administration costs.