Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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178. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the way the Government proposes to ensure arts funding is used to allow minority and new Irish voices to be heard as part of our cultural output. [31293/16]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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187. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will liaise with the Minister for Health to develop and roll out an arts and health strategy across acute and children's hospitals and across the community health sector; and the other innovative approaches that are being considered to use the arts as a means to promote well-being across society. [31303/16]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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188. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the action she is taking with her Government colleagues to systematically address social, geographic and economic barriers to full participation in the artistic and cultural life of the country, particularly for children and young persons. [31304/16]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 178, 187 and 188 together.

Under the Arts Act 2003, primary responsibility for the promotion and support of the arts including music throughout the country is devolved to the Arts Council. In this regard, I secured significant additional funding for the Arts Council as part of Budget 2017. This will see an increase in the Arts Council allocation in 2017 of €5 m or 8% and will assist the Council in implementing its ten-year strategy Making Great Art Work(2016-2025). This strategy places specific emphasis on the need to plan and provide for children and young people. 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. The strategy also commits to working to achieve full implementation of the Arts in Education Charter.

The Programme for a Partnership Government committed to the publication of Culture 2025as a priority and the draft Framework Policy Éire Ildánach/Culture 2025 was forwarded to the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs in July.

The Culture 2025/Éire Ildánach framework policy sets out:

- a series of high-level objectives under the heading of Enrich, Engage, Participateto establish Government vision in relation to culture and society in Ireland;

- a set of key values including the intrinsic value of culture, the right to participate in the cultural life of the nation, and the role of culture in fostering a more sustainable future in Ireland; and

- a series of priority measures for implementation across Government and public bodies.

I understand that the Committee is currently preparing a report on the draft framework policy, which I will consider when received.

In the meantime, I believe that it is important to continue momentum in terms of delivery of the priorities set out in the framework policy and to build on the positive legacy of the Ireland 2016 Centenary Programme.

My Department has, therefore, been developing a cross-Government initiative to mainstream culture and creativity in the life of the nation and to promote individual, community and national well-being. This will focus on boosting cultural provision and participation in communities and harnessing the goodwill and engagement generated by the commemorative programme this year. It will also act as the main vehicle to take forward the priorities identified in Culture 2025.

I have secured funding of €5m in Budget 2017 to underpin this new initiative and I intend to announce further details in the coming weeks.

All these initiatives provide platforms to deepen engagement across all the sectors referred to in the questions.