Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

214. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which he and his Department can identify, promote and support cultural events in the coming year which might be of substantial economic benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51919/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department has already identified and committed to supporting a number of cultural events in the coming year.

In the first instance, my Department is providing significant funding towards the Limerick City of Culture initiative, which will be of great economic and social benefit to Limerick. As in previous years, my Department will also support the annual Culture Night event. Culture Night has grown from a relatively small-scale cultural event, staged only in Dublin, in 2006 to the significant national cultural event it now is. Culture Night 2013 took place on 20 September 2013 in 34 locations across the island of Ireland, in 3 UK cities and in Leuven in Belgium. The feedback from the 2013 event has been overwhelmingly positive with many participating locations reporting larger turnouts than in previous years. Discussions have already commenced with key stakeholders in relation to Culture Night 2014.

My Department will also support the International Week of Irish Culture initiative, which is based around the St Patrick's Day Festival. This initiative, which commenced in 2012, allows the opportunity to showcase to the world Ireland's rich and varied cultural heritage and to promote Ireland as a destination for cultural tourists.

In addition to these festivals, my Department will also be indirectly supporting numerous other cultural events during 2014 through funding provided to the Arts Council, the national cultural institutions and various other cultural organisations throughout the country.

Over the course of 2014, more than €2.3 million per week will be invested by my Department in support of arts, culture and film in Ireland.