James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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59. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the way in which the Creative Ireland Programme will utilise the National Opera House; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47614/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Creative Ireland Programmeis a cross-Government initiative to mainstream culture and creativity in the life of the nation and to promote individual, community and national wellbeing. It aims to put creativity at the centre of public policy. The programme is based on five pillars:

1.Enabling the creative potential of every child

2. Enabling creativity in every community

3. Investing in our creative and cultural infrastructure

4. Establishing Ireland as a centre of excellence in media production

5. Unifying our Global Reputation

Implementation of the Programme, while under the aegis of my Department, will, where the opportunity arises, primarily be through, and in collaboration with existing agencies, local authorities, cultural institutions, State bodies and other cultural partners.

The focus of the Programme this year is on delivering ten major initiatives by the end of 2017, further details of which are available on . The National Opera House in Wexford already plays a huge role in the creative and cultural life of the nation as well as being an anchor resource in Co. Wexford and the South East. This existing role contributes to the aims of the Creative Ireland Programme and I have no doubt that this engagement will deepen over the coming years as the Opera House develops its services with the support of my Department, the Arts Council and others.

Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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60. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of the work of the culture teams in each local authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47883/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Pillar Two of the Creative Ireland Programme – Enabling creativity in every community – is being implemented primarily through the local authorities who, as the primary instruments of community engagement, have a particular capacity for engaging citizens.

The Culture Teams established in each local authority area under this pillar have put a considerable amount of work and time into producing local Culture and Creativity Plans for 2017 which were published last May.

A key operating principle underpinning the Creative Ireland Programme is community empowerment and therefore each local authority decided themselves what events/projects they wished to include in their respective plans. In total, the plans listed over 750 local cultural projects, events and initiatives taking place nationwide in 2017 giving us a snapshot of the rich cultural activity taking place in each country.

The plans also stimulated conversation and debate around the Creative Ireland Programme at a local level.

An allocation of €2m was made available (€1m from my Department and €1m from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government) to support the implementation of these plans.

Each local authority is now in the process of drawing up a more detailed five-year Strategic Creativity Plans which will be published in early 2018. As part of this development, each Culture Team are hosting a variety of collaborative workshops, public meetings and discussions across the country to discuss these strategies, future cultural development as well as to listen and respond to local audiences. These strategies will be accompanied by a yearly Culture and Creativity Action Plan.

I have already doubled my own Department's allocation to the Local Authority Programme in 2018 to €2m and I look forward to working with the local authorities next year to build on the success of 2017.