Vol. 463 No. 2
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Dáil Éireann debate - Thursday, 14 Mar 1996
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Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Cultural...
6 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht when an announcement will be made regarding the allocation for the 1995 scheme of cultural development incentive grants; and the current position regarding the application under this scheme from Portmarnock Community School Theatre Project, County Dublin. [5830/96]
26 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht when an application for grant assistance in respect of Virginia Community Theatre Group, County Cavan will be approved; the amount of funding that will be provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5759/96]
56 Miss de Valera asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht what financial assistance, if any, he intends to give to the Cill Rialaigh Project in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5922/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 26 and 56 together.
As the Deputies will be aware, I have approved in principle the funding of eight projects submitted to me under the Cultural Development Incentives Scheme 1994-1999.
The advisory committee which I have established for this purpose will now consider and make recommendations to me on the other applications received. I expect this process will take approximately two months to complete and I hope to be in a position to announce details of further projects to which funding will be offered in May. Decisions will be made on the applications submitted in respect of the Cill Rialaig project, the Portmarnock Community School Theatre and the Virginia Community Theatre during this process.
I thank the Minister for that information. Is he aware of the feeling among people in the arts world that the cultural needs of over 500,000 people in the three new Dublin council areas have been neglected by the Arts Council over the years as it has given priority to city areas?
I welcome the fact that the Portmarnock application is being considered. Does the Minister accept there is a need for a cultural focus for the north Dublin region, in particular, as there are no suitable venues for cultural events? Does he accept the proposal is a tremendous opportunity to provide a theatre that will reach people of all ages across the social spectrum, particularly young people, who will not travel from the outlying areas of North County Dublin into the city centre?
It might be useful to the Deputy if I explained the process we are following. To give an idea of the great interest there was when we placed the advertisements, we received 170 applications for projects valued at £87 million. The amount available is £19.7 million plus contributions from local authorities etc. The way in which it has been operating — and it enables people to understand how the decisions have been taken — is that all the applications were referred to the Arts Council to see where they fitted in, in terms of an arts assessment in the context of the plan. Bord Fáilte, on an agency basis for my Department, looked at the financial viability of each project. In addition, a committee which I established, and which the House also wanted, in relation to regional balance vetted each project in terms of its regional significance. The next round, after these eight, will be announced in the month of May.
I take the Deputy's point because it is important to assure him and the House that major national and cultural institutions provision in the centre of Dublin cannot be taken as providing automatically for the areas he describes. They have made a good case in their own right. They have completed the process and they should be included in the May evaluation. Later in the summer we will advertise again to see other projects that might have missed the closing date in relation to the first advertisement.
On the Deputy's other points I take his concerns very seriously. Giving access to people of all ages, and to people in age groups that perhaps have been underprovided for in the past, is a factor which must and will be borne in mind.
I am pleased with the Minister's response. This project has planning permission. The dramatic societies and other arts organisations fully support it. Will the Minister ensure that it gets equal consideration with the other applications?
I assure the Deputy that it will be treated as fairly as all the others, and there will be no undue delay on my part once I receive the recommendations from the final group assessment.
The allocations made to date under this scheme were made in accordance with criteria that would be acceptable to any right-minded promoter of the arts. Will the priorities of the five-year arts plan be taken fully into account when future grants are made under this heading? I have in mind specifically that Cork city has been designated as a centre of excellence for the visual arts and the need there is, if that is to become a reality, to make provision for studio space for practising artists and also for artists' residences and other provisions of that nature.
Yes, it is taken into account in the first threshold of evaluation that I spoke about. Deputies will appreciate also that I have described a threefold process of evaluation before recommendations come to me. Projects differ in quality. Questions may arise on one project that do not arise on another. Rather than using that as an excuse for dismissing projects, every effort is made to try to secure the information so that it can move on to the evaluation process. I assure the Deputy that the integration of the focus of the plan with the decision making process is and will be borne in mind.
