Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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193. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of meetings she and her predecessor have had with the implementation group of arts in education charter since the report was published; the dates of those meetings; the person or body that attended those meetings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46080/18]

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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194. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the number of reports received from the implementation group of arts in education since the report was published; if these reports are publicly available; if not, the reason therefore; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46081/18]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 193 and 194 together.

The Arts in Education Charter was launched in 2013 as a joint initiative of the then Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, The Department of Education and Skills, working with the Arts Council. The Charter recognised the value of arts in education and committed to cross-departmental co-operation in this area. A number of commitments were made as part of this process and much progress has been made across all areas of the Charter since its publication.

An High Level Implementation Group, chaired by the late Professor John Coolahan, was appointed by the Ministers of both Departments in 2013 to provide a strategic, high-level and ongoing point of contact with them to ensure the delivery of the Charter objectives. The Group was made up of senior officials from the then Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and the Department of Education and Skills, the Director of the Arts Council, Orlaith McBride, Mary Nunan, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick (and Chair of the Points of Alignment Committee) and Dr Katie Sweeney, National Director for the integration of the Arts in Education. Michael Finneran, Head of Drama and Theatre Studies, Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick replaced Mary Nunan on this group in 2016.

The Group has been active since 2013 and met my predecessor Minister Humphreys (on 14 October, 2014) as well as Minister Deenihan and previous Ministers for Education and Skills. Six formal reports were submitted to the Minister for Education and Skills and to the then Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. These reports will be uploaded to the Arts in Education Portal and will be available to view.

As the Deputy will be aware, Creative Youth, a plan to enable the creativity of every child and young person was published in December 2017. This Plan aims to ensure that every child in Ireland has practical access to tuition, experience and participation in music, drama, arts and coding by 2022. The actions in the Creative Youth Plan extend to both the formal and non-formal education sectors and are being delivered by my Department, the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Arts Council. This Plan is building on the Arts in Education Charter and aims to resource, fast-track and implement the objectives of the Arts in Education Charter as well as rolling out a range of other initiatives.

In addition, a new Expert Advisory group chaired by Dr. Ciaran Benson has been established by myself, Minister Bruton, in his previous role as Minister for Education and Skills and Minister Zappone. Their role is to drive the implementation of Creative Youth and the continued roll out of the Arts in Education Charter. They will also advise on the broader, long-term objective for the Creative Ireland Programme: to enhance cultural and creative education for all our children and young people.