Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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578. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he plans to develop a multi-cultural centre in Cork city to provide a venue for cultural events in Cork city and county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16884/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Proposals for the development of new local arts centres are a matter in the first instance for the local authority rather than the Department. Accordingly, my Department has no plans to develop a new centre in Cork city.

County and city development plans including for the arts sector are drawn up by local authorities in accordance with their functions under the Planning and Development Acts. For that reason, many of the existing nationwide infrastructure of venues and arts centres used by the artistic communities and the professional arts sector were initiated and funded by local authorities and are eligible for annual programming funding from the Arts Council for these centres.

In this context, my Department focuses on providing capital grant funding to assist and maintain these arts and cultural facilities. Under Stream E of the Cultural Capital Scheme grants of up to €20,000 are available at 85% grant funding rate except for Local Authority owned facilities where the maximum grant is 60% of eligible costs. Grants of up to €50,000 are provided at a maximum grant funding rate of 70% (60% for Local Authority owned facilities).