Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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761. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to remove the cap in the percentage for the art scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54134/17]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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A Government Decision in 1997 approved the inclusion in budgets for all Exchequer-funded capital construction projects of up to 1% as funding for an art project, subject to an overall cap of €64,000. 

Under the terms of the Scheme, funds to commission a per cent for art piece are factored into and funded from the overall budget of each capital project by the public body undertaking it. This is a matter for each project promoter or commissioning body and I, as Minister, have no statutory function in this regard.

My Department has responsibility for the promotion of the Per Cent for Art Scheme and set out guidelines in 2004 to assist project managers to operate the scheme and to provide a common national approach to its implementation. Guidelines on the Per Cent for Art Scheme are available on the Public Art website www.publicart.ie. and on the department's website. 

The current cap was set by Government in 1997 and given the period which has elapsed since the cap was last adjusted in 1997, my predecessor asked the Department to conduct a review of the scheme. This review is ongoing.