Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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660. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which the arts and heritage sectors continue to generate employment throughout the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6082/15]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The nature of employment within the arts sector encompasses a wide range of activities. It can include those engaged in the arts practice within specific artistic genres and can encompass areas that flow from such artistic pursuits. It may also embody the industrial creative sectors, including audiovisual production.The Government appreciates the importance of the arts, culture and the creative industries to our society and economy. Within the current economic constraints, investment in the arts, culture and creative sectors is more important than ever, having regard to the employment intensity of the sector.

The arts sector continues to offer vital opportunities for the provision of important cultural, social and employment benefits to communities throughout the country. Primary responsibility for the promotion of the arts at all levels throughout the country is devolved to the Arts Council. The Council is funded by my Department and is statutorily independent in its day-to-day operations, including its funding decisions. Details of all funding provided by the Arts Council to arts practitioners, groups and venues, including arts centres, are available on its website at

Funding for the protection of heritage sites and buildings will continue to be provided by my Department in 2015 via a number of schemes, which will be either directly administered or delivered through local authorities or through the Heritage Council.This week I announced an allocation of €624,000 for the Structures at Risk Fund 2015, to enable conservation works to heritage structures, in both private and public ownership, deemed to be at significant risk of deterioration and which are protected under the Planning and Development Acts 2000–2012. In 2014, my Department awarded €5 million to conservation works to 540 heritage structures through the Built Heritage Jobs Leverage Scheme, which directly generated 175 full-time equivalent jobs across the country in the niche conservation sector of the construction industry and in associated areas.I also understand that the heritage grants programmes of the Heritage Council, which my Department funds, generated 19 full-time equivalent jobs in 2014, predominantly in rural Ireland, from a spend of €695,000. Capital investment in built heritage conservation also assists in developing and maintaining specialised skills among conservation professionals and craftspeople.

Research has shown that investment in heritage also generates significant indirect employment. The research report Economic Value of Ireland’s Historic Environment, commissioned by the Heritage Council and published in 2012, established that Ireland’s historic environment supports over 35,000 jobs.