Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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In December 2022 the Government extended the Creative Ireland Programme. For the period 2023-2027, the programme will focus on five areas: Creative Youth; Creative Communities; Creative Industries; Creative Health and Well-being; and Creative Climate Action and Sustainability.

The “Creative Industries Framework” referred to in the WDC report is the Roadmap for the Digital Creative Industries,which is a commitment of the Programme for Government. My Department has made constructive progress working with officials across Departments and agencies to prepare a draft Roadmap for agreement. In partnership with the Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment I am aiming publish the Roadmap for the Digital Creative Industrieslater this year.

In 2022 Creative Ireland piloted the first Creative Communities Economic Action fund. This supported eight local authorities with resources to grow the potential of local creative industries. These included support for animation clusters in Munster; immersive games development in Galway; the activation of design practice in wider industry across the North West, in partnership with the Western Development Commission; development of fabric production in Donegal; typography skills development in Kells Co Meath, and exploring the links between the business and art of hairdressing in Leitrim.

TheCreative Communities Economic Action Fund 2023will continue the work undertaken in the first round of funding to develop creative economies at local level. In particular we are asking local authorities, Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) agencies such as the Western Development Commission and their partners to support projects in the following sectors:

• Design sectors (including industrial design, product design, visual communications, graphic design, Ui/Ux and interaction design, service design and strategic design);

• Digital creative sectors including the games sectors; and

• Content creation sectors including advertising and brand agencies, visual and audiovisual content for commercial social media, multimedia content for mobile applications (‘apps’), and content for newer and emerging platforms such as AR/VR/XR.

I will be announcing the 2023 successful recipients shortly.

My Department has no function in regard to the budget for the implementation of the recommendations set out in the Sustainable Enterprise – Creative Economy Report in March 2022, by the Western Development Commission. The Creative Ireland Programme will however continue to work with various sectors, stakeholders and other public sector bodies with a view to realising the potential of the creative economy.