Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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41. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which she continues to promote and support cultural events throughout the country in view of the desirable objective of promoting a positive national image at home and abroad; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27078/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Irish culture and heritage are indisputable assets when it comes to promoting Ireland's image and reputation at home and abroad among all age groups.

My Department supports a broad range of programmes and initiatives across its remit to promote Ireland’s image, including in particular the Creative Ireland Programme and Culture Ireland. 

The remit of Culture Ireland, a division of my Department, is to promote and advance Irish arts worldwide thus strengthening Ireland’s cultural profile and global reputation. Strategic priorities include providing support for the international presentation of Irish artists and arts organisations, developing new and diverse international audiences and markets for Irish arts, and linking culture into the Government’s international promotion strategy in tandem with other relevant Government Agencies. 

This year, Culture Ireland is presenting Culture Ireland GB18, a year-long programme of Irish arts in Great Britain that aims to showcase Irish artistic excellence in partnership with significant UK institutions, venues and festivals, to build on the unique (and in many respects shared) cultural relationship between the two countries and expand the reach of Irish culture to new audiences.

Great Britain is a key market for Ireland in terms of tourism, trade and investment promotion and the GB18 programme enables us to use our culture and heritage as a unique door-opener for Ireland and Irish business, and an effective means of articulating our values at a time of change in Ireland's wider relationship with Britain.

The Creative Ireland Programme is a culture-based programme led by my Department designed to promote individual, community and national wellbeing. Its core proposition is that participation in cultural activity drives personal and collective creativity, with significant implications for individual and societal wellbeing and achievement.

Pillar I - 'Enabling the Creative Potential of Children' and Pillar II - 'Enabling Creativity in Every Community' of the Programme will see considerable investment this year in highlighting numerous events of a cultural and heritage nature across the country. 

For instance, a sum of €3m (€2m from my Department and €1m from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government) has been allocated to all 31 local authorities (€96,000 each approximately) to enable them support an extensive programme of activities, events and initiatives in each county. This will include the launch of long-term creative strategies for each local authority which will be launched later this year. 

In addition, each local authority has been allocated funding to host Cruinniú na nÓg, a day of day of youthful creativity that will be held this weekend coming (23 June 2018) and which is specifically targeted at children and young people. Over 500 free events are happening for Cruinniú na nÓg nationwide, further details of which can be found at   

It should be noted that the Arts Council, the main Irish Government agency for developing the arts, works in partnership with and provides funding for arts, artists, arts organisations, public policy makers and others to build a central place for the arts in Irish life.  Festivals, and cultural events are important in this context.

We will continue to work across Government in 2018, to further enhance Ireland's cultural and artistic reputation, particularly in the context of the recently launched ten-year plan "Investing in our Culture, Language and Heritage 2018-2027" which sets out the Government’s objectives for capital investment in Ireland’s culture, language and heritage. This plan can be accessed at