Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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33. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of the Ireland 2016 centenary programme and the community participation element of the programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39544/15]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Ireland 2016Centenary Programme, which was launched on 31 March, includes a rich diversity of programmes and events, complementary and additional to the formal State occasions, which will run throughout 2016 to commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. The Programme will be an invitation to everyone on the island of Ireland and to the global Irish community to shape and engage in a diverse range of historical, cultural and artistic activities – all designed to facilitate reflection, commemoration, celebration, debate and analysis and an active imagining of our future. Officials of my Department have facilitated an intensive consultation period over the last few months, including active engagement with schools, universities, colleges, business and voluntary organisations, arts and culture institutions, historical societies and representative groups – at home and in our Diaspora around the world – to inform, to stimulate debate and discussion about 2016, and to foster programme initiatives. Work has been ongoing to implement a comprehensive programme and planning is well underway for the range of initiatives within the seven programme strands.

Among the key milestones achieved to date are the following:

- I was delighted to host the first of the State ceremonial events of the Ireland 2016Centenary Programme on 1 August to commemorate the funeral of O'Donovan Rossa in Glasnevin Cemetery, in the presence of President Michael D Higgins and the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, T.D;

- An allocation of €22 million in capital funding is being provided through my Department’s Vote in 2015 for the ‘Permanent Reminder’ projects. These capital projects are progressing well and launch dates have been agreed and events are currently being planned. Some €31m will be allocated next year;

- The Global and Diaspora Programme, was launched on 29 June and was very positively received at home and abroad;

- On 6 August, the Arts Council announced 9 major arts projects to commemorate 1916;

- The launch of the National Flag Initiative took place on 14 September, with the first in a series of deliveries by the Defence Forces of the National Flag and the Proclamation to over 3,300 national schools across the country. Over 1,500 flags have been delivered and have been very well received;

- The grants programme for Irish language projects under the ‘An Teanga Bheo’ strand of the Programme has been completed and were recently announced;

- The Education Programme strand was launched on 22 September for the primary, post-primary and third-level education sectors;

- Consultation is ongoing with relevant stakeholders in Northern Ireland, including official, political, media, artistic and NGO stakeholders;

- The National Cultural Institutions are planning a range of innovative exhibitions and projects and all are progressing well;

- Culture Ireland launched their official Programme “I am Ireland”on 3 October.

Under the 'Community Participation' strand of the programme, over 83 public consultations, facilitated by the local authorities, have taken place nationwide. Each of the local authorities has now developed a rich and diverse series of events and projects that will take place around the country next year. Arising from this, I, together with An Taoiseach and my Government colleagues, launched 31 individual local authority plans on 8 October. I have allocated €1 million in 2015 in current funding to support this process.

Further information in relation to the various events, activities and initiatives taking place under each of the above strands can be found on my Department’s dedicated website at , as well as the 31 county plans that were launched last month.