A Chathaoirligh agus a chomhaltaí den choiste. Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil libh as an deis a thabhairt dom an ráiteas seo a dhéanamh inniu. Gabhaim buíochas freisin le hOifig an Ard-Reachtaire Cuntas agus Ciste as an mbealach proifisiúnta ina ndearna a chuid oifigeach an obair a bhí riachtanach i ndáil leis an gcuntas sin.
I am pleased to have this opportunity to address the committee in relation the 2021 appropriation account for the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. I would like to express my thanks to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General for the professional manner in which the important task of auditing the Department's appropriation account was carried out. I am joined by my colleagues, Mr. Joe Healy, corporate; Ms Triona Quill, broadcasting and media; Mr. Conor Falvey, arts and culture; Mr. Cian Ó Lionáin, tourism and sport; and Mr. Aodhán Mac Cormaic, Gaeltacht and Irish language. Mr. Mac Cormaic has been slightly delayed but I have been assured he is on his way.
I am mindful that my last appearance before this committee was a virtual one as a consequence of Covid public health restrictions. I am grateful to be able to address the committee in person today. The World Health Organization, WHO, ended the global emergency status for Covid-19 in May of this year. While the virus is still undoubtedly with us, the world is once again open for travel, hospitality, audiences, sporting events, group participation in live entertainment, to name but a few of the casualties of the pandemic restrictions. I think I speak for all of us when I say how delighted we were in early 2022 to be able to return to a normal level of activity across these sectors.
The Department's 2021 expenditure and programmes are set against the backdrop of an extraordinary and tumultuous two years endured by the sectors, for which we have responsibility, throughout the pandemic. It was a very difficult year from the Department's perspective, with lockdowns and reopenings, the emergence of the Delta variant of Covid in June and the uncertainty around the highly contagious Omicron variant towards the end of the year.
The impact of the pandemic on the sectors for which the Department has responsibility is well documented. It is worth reiterating that these sectors were, and are, very much dependent on visitors to Ireland, on audience participation and community involvement, all of which were ground to a halt during the pandemic. As I said before, these are sectors which thrive when people congregate to enjoy their leisure time together, and they account for a significant amount of employment revenue, social activity and well-being right across the country.
During 2021, the Department continued to put flexible and agile supports in place in response to an ever-changing Covid environment, particularly in instances where horizontal Government supports were not applicable, or were not reaching the sectors effectively. Through a combination of the continuation of some of the interventions introduced in 2020 and the introduction of other new and tailored initiatives, a variety of supports were made available to mitigate against the most severe impacts of Covid-19 across the tourism, arts, Gaeltacht, sport and media sectors. Expenditure on all of the Department's Covid initiatives is captured in the chapter on Covid-19 expenditure in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the accounts of the public service for 2021 and 2022.
The supports available included business continuity supports operated by Fáilte Ireland. This included supports for coach tourism, outdoor dining adaptation funding to facilitate safe reopening when permitted, and renewed marketing activity for both domestic and overseas markets. It included live entertainment supports, which were delivered directly by our Department and provided significant job opportunities with thousands of musicians, performers, crew and support staff benefiting over the summer months in particular, while also supporting the continued production of high quality artistic output.
We had targeted support for SMEs supplying services to the event sector, which was significantly impacted by restrictions. We had support for Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht, including support for eligible Gaeltacht families who normally provided accommodation for students.
In the sports sector, encompassing the three main sportsfield organisations, FAI, GAA and IRFU, we had a resilience fund to support the other national governing bodies of sport. We also provided a sports club resilience fund to support clubs from all sports and a resumption of sport and physical activity fund.
Exchequer-funded rounds of the Sound and Vision scheme were put in place to support live music and the commercial radio sector and they were put in place by the BAI, now known as Coimisiún na Meán, acknowledging the key role the media sector played in sharing trusted news and local information within communities.
These initiatives were informed by intensive engagement by the team here across all of the sectors during 2020 and 2021 and through the work of the hospitality and tourism forum, the arts and cultural recovery task force, the tourism recovery task force, the return to sport expert group, the sport monitoring group and the return to spectators working group. These were established by Ministers to provide a forum for structured engagement and consultation and to chart a way through the pandemic and beyond.
The Government's response to Covid-19 in respect of these sectors recognised their importance domestically and internationally and individually and collectively. These sectors have reopened and are stabilising and recovering, but it has been challenging. The Department has supported, and will continue to support, the sectors as they journey from crisis to recovery.
Notwithstanding the priority that had to be afforded to the delivery of Covid-related support in 2021, the Department continued in parallel to pursue its core objectives, and to progress a number of key policy priorities throughout the year. Significant work was also required to embed the tourism, sports and media functions on foot of the 2020 departmental reconfiguration, which happened in mid-2020, after the election. The development of hybrid working arrangements was also progressed, as and when lockdowns and reopenings allowed.
Among milestones reached in 2021 were the announcement of major investments valued at more than €60 million under Fáilte Ireland's platform for growth to rebuild the tourism sector, providing sustainable employment across the country. The creative climate action fund was launched as part of the Creative Ireland programme. It supported 15 creative cultural and artistic projects building awareness around climate change and climate action, and empowering citizens to make meaningful behavioural changes.
Cruninniú na nÓg was a national day of free creativity for young people which took place in June 2021. Hundreds of events, mostly online, took place across the country. The implementation of the 2021 programme of the decade of centenaries, included a series of events to commemorate the centenary of the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which marked the end of the War of Independence, a key event of the decade.
The report of the night-time economy task force was published. This included recommendations and proposed actions across a range of Departments, agencies and the night-time economy sector, which is a new policy area for the Department.
The Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021 was signed into law by the President of Ireland in December 2021. On 31 December 2021, the derogation on the Irish language as an official working language of the European Union was ended. This was a huge milestone for the language. The second annual progress report on the 20 year strategy for the language was published.
There was a €4 million investment in Sport Ireland's women in sport programme over 2021 and 2022. Some €16.6 million in grants was awarded to approximately 1,000 applicants for equipment projects under the sports capital programme.
There was the publication of a sports action plan for the period up to 2023 to support the sector's continued recovery from the impact of Covid-19 and to focus on the implementation of goals as set out in the national sports policy. There was a new high-performance strategy for the sporting sector, which was launched in June 2021. There was Government approval for the integration of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill into the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill, which has since been enacted. There was the publication of the report of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media on the Bill in November 2021. The Future of Media Commission also completed its deliberations in 2021 and submitted its report to the Taoiseach and Minister.
Across all of Government, the importance of the sectors supported by the Department as core and vital contributors to the economy, employment, societal and mental well-being as well as societal integration and development continues to be recognised. The Department will continue its work in supporting, maintaining and developing these sectors, not forgetting the agencies, local authorities, organisations, clubs and the many participants and volunteers who all actively and regularly engage with these sectors.
I wish to reiterate my commitment as Accounting Officer to ensure all the supports, projects and initiatives under the remit of the Department reflect current best practice and are managed in accordance with the provisions of the public spending code and all relevant Government circulars. The Department continues to draw on lessons from the past and will develop the most effective structures and processes, which will allow us to deliver most effectively and efficiently for our very many stakeholders. I am happy to expand on any of these areas should the committee members wish.
