Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The new public holiday to mark St Bridget’s Day, the goddess Brigid and the ancient festival of Imbolc will be inaugurated on 1st February this year. I welcome the addition of a holiday that would celebrate Irish women and ancient traditions and I think the timing is appropriate that this holiday is added to the annual calendar at the start of Spring. It is timely also that the new holiday will stimulate interest in St Bridget as we approach the 1500th anniversary of her birth in 2025. The new permanent public holiday will be the first Monday in every February, except where St. Brigid’s Day, the 1st day of February, happens to fall on a Friday, in which case that Friday 1 February will be a public holiday.

I believe that it is important that people will have full opportunity to shape and define the character of the new and multi-faceted holiday, and that the nature of expression and celebration should be allowed to emerge at local and community level with interested bodies contributing to the arrangements on the day as they think appropriate. While there has not been a specific and ring-fenced budget provision for events relating to St Bridget's Day in 2023, the National Cultural Institutions have made arrangements for specific events to mark the day. In addition, funding provided through my Department's Creative Ireland Programme since 2021 has enabled projects to be brought forward by the Culture and Creativity teams in Kildare, Roscommon, Tipperary, Louth and Westmeath.

For future years, I intend that applications will be accepted to the support scheme operated on an annual basis by my Department in respect of Small Scale Local Festivals and Summer Schools Scheme with cultural or heritage themes. This scheme is reserved for appropriate not-for-profit festivals, summer schools and other such similar events. Projects funded under the scheme enhance access to the arts, culture and film sectors recognising the social and economic role of these sectors in Ireland. Funding available under this scheme is typically capped at €5,000. This Scheme is designed to support local cultural festivals and summer schools, which are not in receipt of other central Government monies and which may not be eligible under funding criteria for larger scale events supported by Fáilte Ireland, the Arts Council and similar bodies. Events which are funded by the Arts Council and Fáilte Ireland are not eligible. The projects make a very important contribution to the development and promotion of Ireland's cultural tourism offering, to the benefit of both the domestic and foreign tourist and represent an important component of the delivery of the cultural tourism commitments in the Programme for Government. My Department is currently reviewing arrangements for the 2023 Scheme. These details will be published shortly.

The Arts Council also provides financial support to a number of single art form festivals (e.g. theatre, dance, film) and such festivals are supported within the policy context of those art forms. The Arts Council also supports many multidisciplinary arts festivals, meaning those festivals that programme across different art forms, including literature, music, street arts, theatre, visual arts and different areas of arts practice. Their Festivals Investment Scheme, for example, is specifically designed to offer support to local/voluntary organisations to develop arts festivals.

Fáilte Ireland supports local authorities in the development of tourism in their area including funding for capital investment, festivals and events.