Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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233. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when his Department expects to fill the culture officer post in Toronto. [20928/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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A recruitment campaign for the role of Arts and Culture Coordinator in Canada is underway.

The post of Arts and Culture Coordinator is part of a broader Cultural Officers Programme in priority locations worldwide. The Programme is an initiative under Global Ireland 2025 and represents a strategic approach to cultural diplomacy and soft power on a whole of Government basis. The Programme operates as a partnership between my Department and the Department of Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport and Culture Ireland in the context of enhanced international arts and cultural promotion.

Ireland’s Strategy for the US and Canada 2019–2025 states that ‘Ireland will double our impact by promoting our culture and nurturing our reputation across the US and Canada’ and the successful candidate will play an important role in achieving this aim. The opening of new Consulates of Ireland in Toronto and Vancouver in recent years, has expanded significantly our engagement in Canada of which cultural promotion is an important element. Enhanced cultural awareness is an important means of further enriching the bilateral relationship and people-to-people connections between Ireland and Canada.