Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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98. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the reason she has not created a National Town of Culture competition, as outlined in the Programme for Government; and if she is still considering the idea. [24230/24]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The proposal set out in The Programme for Government Our Shared Future to consider creating a new National Town of Culture competition was substantially superseded by the Covid-19 pandemic and the responses to the recommendations that emerged from the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce, including the Basic Income for the Arts research programme, increased support for professional arts practice in the form of record allocations for the Arts Council, Culture Ireland, Screen Ireland and Creative Ireland, new and enhanced support for the provision of artist workspaces, the delivery of €100m in supports for the live entertainment sector through the period of Covid-19 restrictions and the development and delivery of the Safe to Create programme.

In the interim, Galway City hosted the European City of Culture in 2020 which faced significant challenges due to the pandemic. Delivery of certain legacy aspects of the Galway 2020 programme is ongoing. While this matter remains under consideration, there are no proposals at present, pending the full delivery of all elements of Galway 2020, for such a competition.