Vol. 549 No. 3
433 Mr. M. Kitt asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will provide funding for an arts organiser to County Galway VEC to cater for the needs of Galway county and city; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6665/02]
The promotion of the arts and public education in the arts at community level comes within the broad remit of the adult education organisers. There are 51 adult education organisers throughout the country employed by the vocational education committees. Their role is to identify and provide for a broad range of adult educational needs and to co-operate and liaise as appropriate with other statutory, community and voluntary organisations in this field. I have no plans at present to provide funding for the appointment of additional arts organisers.
An additional network of 35 community education facilitators will be put in place shortly. The role of the facilitators will be to support the development of new community-based learning groups to network providers and help them access funding, to share good practice and monitor quality, and to promote the development of partnerships with the statutory sector.
Both the adult education organisers and the community education facilitators will work closely with other agencies, including the arts officers employed by the local authorities, to progress the role of adult education in supporting the arts as well as other disciplines.
