Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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111. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht given the figure currently being discussed in the media that Ireland spends 0.1% of gross domestic product on arts and culture by comparison with the EUaverage of 0.6%, if she will provide accurate, up-to-date figures for comparative purposes. [15111/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for a Partnership Government contains a very important commitment to work to progressively increase funding to the arts, including the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board, as the economy continues to improve.

I can assure the Deputy that I will be engaging with my colleagues in Government and with the Oireachtas to seek to advance this commitment in the context of the forthcoming estimates and budgetary processes.

I understand that the figures quoted by the Deputy are from the Council of Europe from a project called Compendium - Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe. I understand that many European counties are not included in the figures, including ten EU member states. The data for the Compendium project are provided by independent researchers and it is not a standardised system for collection of statistics.

I further understand that the Compendium itself warns that data provided by the researchers are not comparable across countries because each researcher includes different elements in the definition of culture and these elements are reflected in the figures for public expenditure. Figures can also include some, or all, of national, regional or local expenditure.

The issue of a definition of culture and of capturing public expenditure on culture is one which was discussed in the public consultation process that was held for the purpose of developing Ireland's first National Cultural Policy, Culture 2025. This will be reflected in the draft policy document which I intend to submit to Government for consideration in the coming weeks. As I have stated previously, this first such policy will be a living document and will form the basis of an ongoing dialogue with all who are interested in cultural policy. I look forward to consideration of Culture 2025by the Oireachtas following its publication and would very much welcome the adoption of an all-party approach in this matter.

Expenditure on the arts in Ireland comes from multiple sources, both public and private. I understand that the CSO does not produce national statistics that capture the totality of this expenditure as a percentage of GDP. However, I do consider that further research on this issue is warranted in the context of Culture 2025.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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112. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the targets and key performance indicators included within the Arts Council funding process to ensure that funds are distributed among all socio-economic sectors; and if targets are met and the results of these. [15115/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Under the Arts Act 2003, primary responsibility for the promotion of the arts at all levels throughout the country is devolved to the Arts Council.

Last September, my Department completed and published a comprehensive review of the Arts Council’s activities and operation over the period 2009 to 2012. It was undertaken by my Department’s Evaluation Unit under the guidance of an expert Steering Committee chaired by Dr. John O’Hagan, Professor of Economics at Trinity College. The Value for Money Policy Review recommended the establishment of a set of 11 performance indicators, linked to the objectives of the Arts Council, to assess the results of the Arts Council’s annual programme. A subset of these include the number of arts projects that involve groups identified in the National Action Plan for Social Inclusion and the number of participants as a percentage of all Art Council funded programme participants, as well as the percentage of the Arts Council’s annual programme funding allocated to social inclusion projects.

The recommendations of the VFM report are reflected in the Arts Council’s ten-year strategy Making Great Art Work(2016-2025) which set outs how it will lead the development of all aspects of the arts in Ireland over the next decade. The five high level values of the Strategy include a comment to excellence as well as respect for diversity of artistic practice, of public engagement, and of social and cultural traditions.