Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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22. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the progress her Department has made on implementing the Arts in Education Charter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23556/15]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Both the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, and I are committed to implementing the Arts in Education Charter.

A major objective in the Charter was the establishment of a National Arts in Education Online Portal for arts education in Ireland. The Charter Implementation Group gave detailed attention to the planning and design of such a portal and, with the assistance of experts from a variety of partnership organisations, the portal was launched on 19 May last, in Dublin Castle, as a joint project involving both Departments. The portal will be the key national digital resource for arts and education practice in Ireland.

The new portal provides an unprecedented opportunity for young people and all other interested groups to engage productively with the arts in education in Ireland. It will foster and encourage good collaborative practice in arts-in-education and arts education to be developed, supported and enhanced. Submissions for the portal will be invited on an on-going basis. The portal is available at

The Charter also sets out a partnership approach, with the setting up of local arts education partnerships. Already in 2014, Cavan-Monaghan ETB has established its local arts education partnership model, setting a really great example for the rest of the country. These partnership models should play a supportive and facilitating role for local art initiatives.

The Implementation Group continues to work to implement the other aspects of the Charter.