Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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86. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will report on the progress of Creative Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3095/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Creative Ireland programme was launched in December 2016 and is a five year initiative, placing creativity at the centre of public policy.  It is a cross-Government initiative led by my Department.  Significant progress has been made across the five pillars of this Programme and a full report of activity and achievements can be found in the End of Year Report 2017 on my Department's Creative Ireland website:

Some of the important milestones reached include: 

- The establishment of Creative Ireland Co-ordinators and Culture Teams in every local authority with the assistance of €2m provided by the Departments of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Housing, Planning and Local Government. The local Culture and Creativity Plans listed over 750 projects, events and initiatives which took place nationwide in 2017 of which an estimated 250 were directly attributable to the Creative Ireland Programme. The Department will double its funding for this element of the Programme in 2018. 

- In December 2017, Creative Youth – a Plan to enable the Creative Potential every Child and Young Person in the country – was launched – a joint effort between the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, and the Arts Council.  €2m has been allocated to this initiative in 2018 - €1m from my Department and €1m from the Department of Education and Skills.

- A pilot scheme giving professional artists and writers easier access to social welfare supports was launched in June 2017.

- A Creative Ireland Forum "Culture, Wellbeing and the Creative Society" was held in Dublin Castle at the end of 2017. 

I look forward to building on this progress in 2018.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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87. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the amount the Creative Ireland Programme plans to spend on marketing in 2018. [3099/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Citizen Engagement is an important aspect of the work of the Creative Ireland Programme. It is important that citizens have the opportunity to engage with the Programme and can access information on the range and depth of Ireland's cultural and creative offering. My Department is developing a new citizen engagement plan for 2018 and I will make a decision on specific funding for this element of the Creative Ireland Programme in this context.