Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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19. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will give a detailed account of the amount of money spent by his Department in 2012 and in the year to date in 2013 on training and development in arts and heritage; if he will provide specific details of the way the money was spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26096/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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My Department does not directly provide training or development for people working in the arts or heritage sectors. In common with all other Departments, it supports the training and development of the Department's staff through formal training and development courses, in-house training, attendance at relevant conferences and seminars, refund of academic fees, and the reimbursement of professional membership fees.

Some €223,286 was spent on training and development in 2012, and a further €71,586 has been spent in 2013 to date. The formal training and development courses attended by officers in 2012 include: Job-Specific Training e.g. Abseil Access, ArcGIS Geographic Information Mapping Software, Biodiversity Identification, Quad, Raptor Poisoning, Rope Rescue Technician; Business Process Improvement; Health and Safety Training e.g. Fire Safety, Firearm Safety, Manual Handling, Occupational First Aid, Safe Pass, Signing, Lighting and Guarding at Roadworks, Crisis Prevention; Child Protection; Irish Language Skills; Courtroom Skills; ICT Training e.g. Microsoft Office Applications, Microsoft Sharepoint, Website Content Management; and Corporate, HR and Financial Training e.g. Financial Management, Interview Board, Management Development, Mediation, Procurement, Professional Services Withholding Tax, Public Speaking, Report Writing, Workplace Investigation.

Further training in these areas is being carried out during 2013. A number of these training and development courses are delivered in-house or by other public bodies which accrues no direct cost to my Department. Where such options are not available, my Department ensures that correct procedures in relation to procurement are followed.