Vol. 471 No. 4
104 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the level of funding available to the Abbey Theatre in 1995 and 1996; if he has satisfied himself that the Abbey Theatre has adequate resources available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20924/96]
The level of funding available to the National Theatre Society in 1995 and 1996 which is met from the Vote of An Chomhairle Ealaíon, the Arts Council, is as follows: 1995 — £2,574,000; 1996 — £2,783,000. The amounts include the annual operating grant, a touring grant and a capital grant for each of the years in question.
I have established a tripartite working group consisting of representatives of my Department, An Chomhairle Ealaíon and the National Theatre Society to review the funding requirements of the Society whilst taking into account that the grant payable to the Society comes from the annual global allocation available to An Chomhairle Ealaíon. I hope the work of this group will be complete in the near future and can feed into the decision making process on the funding levels for the National Theatre Society for 1997 and beyond.
