Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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757. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the level of funding provided in her Department's Estimates for 2018 for Creative Ireland; the level of funding that will be allocated to local authorities and agencies under the remit of her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53912/17]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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A budget of €6m has been provided to further the implementation of the Creative Ireland Programme in 2018. This will ensure that the Department can build on the work accomplished in 2017, continue to drive the implementation of the Programme at local level and fund specific actions and priorities which further the wider aims of the Programme.

More specifically, over €1m of the above budget will be allocated to the implementation of Creative Youth: A plan to enable the creative potential of every child and young person in the country, launched on the 7 December 2017. This is a wide-ranging and ambitious plan that puts culture and creativity at the heart of education. The Department of Education is providing matching funds for this Plan in 2018.

In addition to this commitment to implementing Creative Youth, the allocation from my Department to each local authority will be doubled to €2m for 2018 to enable them commence the implementation of their long-term Culture and Creative Strategies due to be launched early next year.

How the remainder of the 2018 budget will be distributed will be finalised in the coming weeks. In this context, it should be noted that the Creative Ireland Programme is the implementation vehicle for a wider, all of Government policy on culture in Ireland, and also links to the heritage, Gaeltacht and Irish language sectors, all of which received increased funding in 2018.