Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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28. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide an interim report in respect of the work of her Department under the shared island dialogue. [56854/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Shared Island Dialogue series is part of the Government’s Shared Island initiative, launched in October 2020, to harness the full potential of the Good Friday Agreement to enhance cooperation, connection and mutual understanding on the island and engage with all communities and traditions on a shared future. The Dialogues are ensuring broad-based and inclusive participation by civil society representatives across the island. In this way, we are supporting contributions from people directly involved, affected or with expertise or experience on a particular theme.

In January 2022, I launched a Shared Island Dialogue on tourism - Tourism on the shared island: Building on past success to create a sustainable future. The Dialogue brought together tourism agencies, organisations, interest groups and civil society stakeholders, from North and South, to examine the success of tourism cooperation on the island of Ireland and explore how best to enhance opportunities for domestic and international visitors in the years ahead. In the course of the event, discussion focused on the benefits that have been delivered for people through North/South cooperation on tourism through the framework of the Good Friday Agreement as well as avenues for increased cooperation and collaboration into the future including on growing sustainable tourism on the island.

In February of this year, my colleague Minister of State Jack Chambers TD represented the Government in a Shared Island Dialogue on sport – Breaking down barriers and tackling shared challenges: Sport cooperation on the island. The audience was made up of current and former sports stars, sports organisations, clubs, community groups and health and wellbeing professionals from across the island who came together to examine the role that sport plays in building and improving community relations, and discussed how to enhance cooperation through sport across the island. Discussion at the Dialogue focused on the positive role sport plays in breaking down barriers and building relationships between communities North and South; how we can best engage people in sport particularly young people and those from minority communities; and opportunities for improved collaboration between clubs, organisations and communities on the island.

Just last month, together with Northern Ireland Minister for Communities, Deirdre Hargey MLA, I delivered the opening address at a Dialogue on Arts and Culture on a Shared Island. Artists, musicians, writers, members of cultural and creative community organisations, and government agencies North and South, came together in Mandela Hall, Queen’s University, Belfast to discuss shared challenges and opportunities facing the arts and cultural sector across the island. A discussion on Challenges and Opportunities on a Shared Islandheard from artists and arts organisations looking at the North/South and East/West cooperation and collaboration, and institutional perspectives on challenges and opportunities in supporting and promoting artists and arts organisations. A second discussion on Building Cultural and Creative Communitiesfocused on sharing good practice and learning in building cultural and creative communities, with particular attention from a community and voluntary sector point of view.

Further information on all of these dialogues is available at www.gov.ie/en/publication/3eb3c-shared-island-dialogues/#identities-on-a-shared-island-new-generation-perspectives.

As well as participating in the dialogues, I will continue to contribute to the Shared Island initiative more broadly. In July, the Government announced investment from the Shared Island Fund which included €7.4m to support the delivery of a suite of new Arts capital investment projects on the island. These are being developed in consultation with the Arts Council and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland. I will continue to work with my colleagues across Government on this important initiative.