Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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585. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the amount of his departmental budget that is set aside to fund artists, entertainers, musicians, poets and performers who promote or use the Irish language through their art; and if ring-fencing a specific percentage of the budget for this purpose has been considered. [17291/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Under the Arts Act 2003, the Arts Council has primary responsibility for stimulating public interest, promoting the practice and improving standards in the arts in Ireland. In 2025, funding for the Arts Council has reached a record level of €140 million.

Ealaín na Gaeltachta Teo is a joint venture between Údarás na Gaeltachta and the Arts Council which promotes the development of the contemporary and the traditional arts in the Gaeltacht. Ealaín na Gaeltachta provides services and grant schemes that support the development of arts organisations and individual artists. They also support training and mentoring support, as well as supporting initiatives that help build the capacity of and infrastructure for the arts in the Gaeltacht.

The Arts Council also funds other organisations which would have supported Irish language projects, for example Axis Ballymun, The Irish Writers Centre and Earagail Arts Festival.

In 2024, the Arts Council awarded €2,226,481 to Irish language projects.

Screen Ireland which has responsibility for the development of the film industry has ring fenced €2.5M in their 2025 capital budget for Irish Language initiatives.

Culture Ireland is a unit of my Department with responsibility for the promotion of Irish Arts internationally. As part of the Culture Ireland strategy artists may apply for supports, including those who wish to present their work in the Irish language. All funding opportunities available through Culture Ireland can be found on the Culture Ireland website.

I would also like to mention the Basic Income for the Arts. There are currently 54 artists / creative arts workers receiving the BIA payment who stated on their application form that they work through Irish and 28 on the Control Group (participants who don’t receive the payment). Participants were randomly selected from the eligible applicant pool of over 8,200 applicants. While there wasn’t a quota, the percentage of participants selected who work through Irish was proportionate to the percentage of those who applied stating that they work through Irish.

My Department operates a number of schemes throughout the year which are openly accessible to all and many actively encourage Irish language elements. Further information on these schemes can be found at

Although the Gaeltacht will no longer be part of the remit of the Department, when I was Minister of State for the Gaeltacht, I announced a €20m Strategy for Language-Based Arts with the then Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media in 2024. This included a four-year funding of €5.78 million for An Taibhdhearc, Amharclann Náisiúnta na Gaeilge for the period 2024 to 2027 as well as €4.085 million for Oireachtas na Gaeilge for its National Action Plan to develop, strengthen and promote Irish language-based arts across the country in the period 2024-2027.