Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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14. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht further to Parliamentary Question No. 957 of 23 July 2024, if the external evaluation and financial audit of the Legacy Programme has been completed; if the evaluation and audit have been published; her views on those reports; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36738/24]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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As noted in response to the parliamentary question on this issue on 23 July 2024, the final drawdown of funds under the Galway European Capital of Culture Legacy Programme was paid by my Department to the Galway Culture Company on 17th July this year.

Under that Performance Delivery Agreement for the Legacy Programme, Galway Culture Company undertook to complete a number of monitoring and evaluation requirements, including “to provide an audited account to the Department on or before the 31^st of March 2025”. The PDA also sets out the key performance indicators and grant drawdown requirements for the programme.

The Galway Culture Company is now engaged in an external evaluation and independent auditors review of the programme. As per the Performance Delivery Agreement, the reporting is required before the end of Q1 2025. The Culture Company recently updated my Department on progress during a recent bilateral monitoring meeting. They informed the Department that the process is ongoing at present and they currently project that the evaluation and the independent auditor's reports will be delivered by the deadline. I look forward to reading the final reports as soon as they are published.

In the meantime, my Department officials continue to engage with Galway Culture Company through regular bilateral monitoring meetings, as outlined in the Performance Delivery Agreement.

The legacy programme has provided an opportunity for the artistic and cultural sector to access funding through open calls, partnerships on funding applications to EU programmes, opportunities for presentation in other European countries and targeted capacity building supports. The funding allocated through the legacy framework has supported the three strategic objectives of the legacy programme: To facilitate international and EU relationships and funding,

• To support place based cultural programming, and
• To provide supports to the cultural and creative sector.