Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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379. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to introduce a national agency to fund and promote local authority museums; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8725/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department runs a Local and Regional Museum Scheme for small capital projects to enhance the offering of local authority and specialised museums and I have no plans to establish a new agency to perform this function. Over €80,000 was awarded to 19 projects under that scheme in 2016.

Further, I recently announced details of more than €9 million in capital funding for arts and culture centres across the country as part of the Creative Ireland programme, with funding provided under my Department’s Arts and Culture Capital Scheme 2016-2018. These centres include a number of local authority facilities and specialised museums.