Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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219. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which museums are located throughout urban and rural Ireland in such a way as to ensure easy and ready access from an educational or tourism prospective with a special emphasis on local history; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16948/19]

Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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The Irish Museums Association (IMA), which is funded annually by my Department and has an allocation of €40,000 for 2019, produced a detailed survey on the museums across Ireland in 2016, citing an approximate total of 230 museums.  The report also cites that in 2014, the collective figures visiting the 118 respondents totalled over 6 million visitors with a break out 60.5% identified as domestic and 35.2% identified as overseas visitors.  The full report is available at .

In addition to providing funding for the IMA, my Department runs a scheme for improving exhibitions in local and regional museums which is currently open for applications at https://www.chg.gov.ie/arts/culture/grants-and-funding/regional-museum-exhibitions-scheme/.  €150,000 has been allocated to this scheme for 2019.

My Department also runs a Mobility of Collections scheme for the dissemination of the National Collections to regional museums and details of the 2019 Scheme may be found at  https://www.chg.gov.ie/arts/culture/grants-and-funding/mobility-of-collections-scheme/.  This scheme is demand driven and has a 2019 allocation of €15,000.

Annual operational funding is also provided by my Department to regional and specialised museums such as the Foynes Flying Boat and Maritime Museum and the Cork Butter Museum.  Details of previous funding to these bodies is available at .

Further, my Department offers capital funding to such bodies across Ireland and details of previous schemes may be reviewed at  .

Finally, under the Creative Ireland Programme, local authorities are receiving funding to support a series of initiatives over the course of 2019 that reflect the strategic priorities outlined in their own Cultural and Creativity Strategies, including events involving museums.