Vol. 453 No. 3
95 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the amount and nature of all spending within his Department and by bodies under his Department's aegis on schemes specifically directed towards meeting the needs of people with disabilities. [9375/95]
As I informed the Deputy in my reply to her Question No. 45 on 4 May 1995, assistance is provided by my Department to groups operating in the areas of arts and culture, the heritage and the Irish language which number the disabled among their members.
The Deputy will recall that I assured her in my reply that I appreciate the fact that arts, culture and heritage can provide a way in which to help integrate, in a non-discriminatory way, people with disabilities into the wider community and that my own Department and the bodies under its aegis remain committed to assisting in this regard in any way possible.
One example of this commitment which I referred to is contained in the three year arts plan of An Chomhairle Ealaíon, where one of the strategic objectives aims to encourage real participation in the arts in terms of availability and access to, inter alia, people with disabilities. While An Chomhairle has been operating a small number of schemes specifically aimed at people with disabilities and expects to spend some £45,000 on such projects in the current year, the arts plan proposes the carrying out over two years of a joint action research project, involving people with disabilities, with the National Rehabilitation Board to establish means to enable people with disabilities to participate in the arts.
