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EU Presidency.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 May 2004

Wednesday, 26 May 2004

Questions (146)

Charlie O'Connor

Question:

159 Mr. O’Connor asked the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism if he will report on his Department’s endeavours in respect of Ireland’s EU Presidency; and his plans for the remainder of the term. [15757/04]

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Written answers

Ireland's Presidency of the EU has proven to be an invaluable opportunity to showcase all that is best about our country. Throughout the Presidency, an extensive cultural programme has been organised and supported by my Department which has encompassed a variety of cultural links, tours and exchanges between Irish artists, Irish festivals and artists from the new member states.

The centrepiece of this programme was the "Day of Welcomes" on 1 May to celebrate the historic enlargement of the Union. This day long carnival involving towns and cities across Ireland proved an enormous success both locally and internationally and was an outstanding tribute to the generosity and warmth of the Irish welcome. In terms of building goodwill throughout Europe, particularly in the new member states, the Day of Welcomes was an overwhelming success.

Obviously, such positive images of Ireland and the Irish people in celebratory mood, which were broadcast throughout Europe and the world over the May weekend, are a major boost to our image as a tourism destination. Close to 1,000 journalists, radio and TV crews from across the world were in Ireland for the weekend and television coverage of the events was beamed into more than 1 billion homes world-wide.

The cultural programme's tours to and from the new member states continue until the end of the Presidency. Highlights in June include the performances by the Irish Chamber Orchestra in Poland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus and the National Chamber Choir performing in the Czech Republic and Poland. In return Éigse Arts Festival and West Cork Chamber Music Festival will welcome artists and musicians from Latvia and Lithuania respectively.

Across my portfolio, a wide variety of events and initiatives have been organised in Ireland in order to bring an Irish perspective to some of the key challenges facing Europe in the arts, sport and tourism areas. On the arts and culture front, four separate events will have been held by the end of the six month Presidency, which will help to advance European co-operation in the field of culture, particularly in the area of linguistic diversity, networking, music and the digitisation of cultural content. The feedback from those who attended the three events that have already taken place has been very positive and I am confident that they will lead to greater mutual understanding and co-operation among the 25 member states. One of the final events of the Presidency will be an international conference entitled "Access all areas: serving the user", which I will open in Dublin Castle on 29 June.

In the face of the common challenges facing the tourism sector across Europe, I asked Fáilte Ireland to organise a major international conference on tourism as the centrepiece of Ireland's tourism programme for the Presidency. The event, entitled "Charting Tourism Success" was held in Dublin Castle and was very well attended by policy makers and industry practitioners across Europe. A diverse panel of distinguished speakers provided valuable insights and set out some fresh ideas on how to meet the challenges facing the sector. The great variety of issues emerging from the conference should help to inform and provide a sharper focus to a number of the initiatives currently underway within the European Commission in advancing its work programme on tourism.

In the sports field, Ireland successfully launched the European Year of Education through Sport and has worked closely with the Commission and other member states in establishing a clearer framework for subsequent Presidencies initiating action in the sports arena.

In terms of advancing the agenda on cultural co-operation at European level, I will be chairing a meeting of Culture Ministers in Brussels tomorrow to discuss a number of priority issues, including the future generation of support programmes for the culture and audio-visual sectors and a proposal on the European Capital of Culture to enable the inclusion of the ten new member states from 2005 onwards.

Question No. 160 answered with Question No. 157.
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