Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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440. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the funding options available through his Department which may be available to support a project (details supplied) in County Meath. [25879/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The scope to provide additional funding for the protection, conservation and development of the State's heritage is constrained by the current national economic difficulties and the significant reduction in the public finances. The Heritage Council, which my Department funds, administers a number of heritage grants schemes. It is a matter for the Heritage Council to allocate its funding appropriately given competing priorities within the heritage sector. I understand from the Heritage Council, however, that it's funding for 2013 is fully committed.

If a Heritage Centre engages in Arts Programming, it could consider applying for the Arts Philanthropic Leverage Initiative, under the scheme, culture organisations can apply for funding if they can augment the amount with private fundraising in the following ratios:

- Up to €5,000 of funds can be accessed through the scheme if the organisation can match each €1 from the taxpayer with €2 from private sector funding;

- Up to €10,000 if each €1 from the taxpayer can be matched by €3 from private sector funding;

- Up to €15,000 if each €1 from the taxpayer can be matched by €4 from private sector funding.

It is available across all art forms. The application form is on my Department's website.