Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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115. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to develop a ten-year plan for the arts amid recent concerns regarding its downgrading; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15256/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Significant progress has been made in drafting the first National Cultural Policy - Culture 2025.This followed a major public consultation process in 2015, including a national cultural workshop held in October at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.

Work by my Department, the expert steering group and a wider expert committee continued on the document in early 2016 and is currently ongoing.

The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to the publication of Culture 2025as a priority and I intend to submit the draft policy 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.

It should also be noted that the Arts Council, which has specific responsibility for promotion of the Arts in Ireland, have published a ten-year strategy, Making Great Art Work,in which it sets out how it will lead the development of the arts in Ireland over the next decade. The strategy has five priority areas:

- The Artist;

- Public Engagement;

- Investment Strategy;

- Spatial and Demographic Planning;

- Developing Capacity.

The Arts Council strategy and the overall Cultural policy will complement each other.

It should also be notedThe Programme for a Partnership Governmentcontains important commitments 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.