Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

167. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to increase funding to achieve the aims of Creative Ireland. [10804/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach and I launched the Creative Ireland Programme/Clár Éire Ildánach 2017 – 2022 on the 8 December 2016 as the Government Legacy Programme for Ireland 2016 and as the main implementation vehicle for the priorities identified in Culture 2025/ Éire Ildánach, the draft cultural policy which I published in July 2016.

In Budget 2017, I secured €5m to commence implementation of the Creative Ireland Programme which includes an ambitious plan to deliver 10 major initiatives by the end of this year, further details of which are available on .

Budget 2017 also includes:

- an additional €5m for the Arts Council

- an additional €2m for the Irish Film Board

- increased funding for all of the National Cultural Institutions;

- an increase of €1 million for Culture Ireland;

- an additional €1 million to the Heritage Council

All of this represents real and substantial funding increases across the arts and cultural area and has been welcomed across the sector.

It re-affirms the commitment of this Government to progressively increase funding for the arts as the economy improves, as set out in the Programme for a Partnership Government.