Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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46. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the funding commitments his Department has made to implement pillar 1 of Creative Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24464/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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'Creative Ireland' is the Government’s legacy programme following on from the successful 'Ireland 2016' initiative. It is a five-year programme, from 2017 to 2022, which places creativity at the centre of public policy. Devising an integrated implementation plan for Arts-in-Education is a priority under Pillar 1 of the programme, whose aim is to enable the creative potential of every child to be realised. This includes the objective that by 2022 every child in Ireland will have access to tuition and participation in art, music, drama and coding. The plan – ‘Creative Children’ – is to be launched in September 2017.

Work on the ‘Creative Children’ plan is currently being progressed by my Department in close collaboration with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and the Arts Council. It is envisaged that the Creative Children plan will comprise three key strands. These connected strands will have overlapping concepts and themes. and it will be important to ensure there is co-operation and synergy across activities. This will ensure that the overarching goal of Pillar 1 can be achieved, providing successful experiences relating to arts, creativity and innovation, for our children and young people, and for our society as a whole.

It is proposed that these 3 strands will be:

1. Creative Schools / Scoileanna Ildánacha - which will see special teams of teachers and artists working together in schools to help make the arts a key part of school life.

2. Professional Development Strategies, for teachers and artists.

3. Further Arts Education Initiatives - under a plan that will encourage, highlight and recognise the non-formal and non-mainstream initiatives in arts education and creativity.

My Department is working closely with the Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs and the Arts Council in developing the plan for Pillar 1 of the programme. The overall Creative Ireland programme will shortly be considered by Government, following which the issue of programme funding will be progressed through the estimates and budgetary process.