Following the establishment of my Department on 18 June 2002, its first statement of strategy, setting out its mission and strategic objectives for the three years up to the end of December 2005, was agreed through the partnership process and published on my Department's website, www.gov.ie/arts-sport-tourism. The statement of strategy presents an overview of the Department, summarises its mission and mandate, outlines the context and environment in which it must pursue its goals and sets out the high level goals, objectives, outputs and performance indicators for the Department's operational and organisational areas. Progress on the achievement of these objectives will be set out in my Department's first annual report due early in 2004 which will cover the period since the establishment of the Department.