Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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734.To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to provide an update on shared island dimension to Creative Ireland and cultural heritage projects; to provide the total allocation; the expenditure to date; the amount that is contained with expenditure ceilings laid out in the stability programme update and summer economic statement and the amount that will have to come from additional funding; the date the project was started; and the projected date of completion, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[34826/24]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Creative Ireland Programme within my Department has been allocated €6 million over three years (2023-25) to invest in creative initiatives on a Shared Island basis.

This allocation is within the expenditure ceilings laid out in the Stability Programme Update 2024 and the Summer Economic Statement.

2023 marked the first year of Creative Ireland’s participation in the Government’s Shared Island initiative which aims 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 to build consensus around a shared future.

The Shared Island dimension to the Creative Ireland Programme seeks to deploy creativity on a shared island basis to:

1. Increase opportunities for cross- community cultural and creative initiatives between children and young people;
2. Support local authorities to enhance networks of creativity in support of vibrant and inclusive people-to-people and community-to-community partnerships;
3. Position Ireland as a global leader in demonstrating the value of creativity and mental health including in post- conflict societies;
4. Deepen collaborations for a more environmentally and socially sustainable island.

Cultural Heritage is under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, however there are certain projects under the Shared Island dimension to the Creative Ireland Programme that contain elements of cultural heritage, including Laces of Ireland. This project supports collaboration and exchanges between lace maker groups and heritage institutions on the island of Ireland, and is led by Limerick City and County Council. The partners in the project are two voluntary groups: Friends of Lace Limerick, limericklace.ie/friends-of-lace, and the South Armagh Lace Collective, southarmaghlacecollective.com/; and three county museums - the Limerick Museum, www.limerick.ie/limerick-museum, the Armagh County Museum, visitarmagh.com/places-to-explore/armagh-county-museum/, and the Cork Public Museum, www.corkcity.ie/en/cork-public-museum/. The long term goal is to create and promote a lace trail through the majority of historical lacemaking centres on the island of Ireland.