Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 May 2010
41 Deputy David Stanton asked the Minister for Tourism; Culture and Sport her role and responsibilities in relation to the development of cultural institutions and activities and their promotion to the public, in particular young people; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20673/10]
View answerThe stated mission of my Department is "to enrich Irish society by supporting the growth of a competitive and sustainable tourism industry and increasing access to and participation in sport, the arts and culture". Having particular regard to the cultural sector, my role as Minister is to recognise the social and economic roles of that sector by promoting and encouraging artistic expression, cultural awareness and participation through an appropriate policy, legislative and resource framework. Inherent in this role is the formulation, development and evaluation of policy and structures to create an environment that enables arts and culture to flourish, the development of the national cultural institutions and supporting the development of other arts and cultural projects at national, regional and local level.
The State's national collecting institutions provide access to their extensive and impressive collections free of charge. All of our national cultural institutions provide free educational and family friendly events throughout the year, which have particular appeal for the younger audience. While my Department provides funding to our national cultural institutions, the board of each institution is responsible for all operational matters relating to it and I do not have a statutory function in respect of day-to-day operational matters.
My Department also provides funding to certain other cultural bodies that hold collections of national importance or collections that are unique and relate to matters of national interest or international culture. These institutions and their collections are accessible to the public. They include the Hunt Museum, Limerick, Archbishop Marsh's library, the Hugh Lane Gallery, the Irish Architectural Archive, the Irish Manuscripts Commission, the National Print Museum, Foynes Flying Boat Museum, Limerick and the Science Gallery.
In addition, funding is provided to projects that meet specific cultural needs and support the high level goals of my Department. Without detailing these individually, they include projects that enhance Ireland's cultural patrimony and access to it, for example, digitisation, reproduction, translation and-or publication of historical documents, including the digitisation of the 1901 and 1911 censuses, the translation of the history of the Capuchins in Ireland and the church records project.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
These projects will enhance access to historically significant documents and are important for research and scholarship purposes.
The culture night project has been supported by my Department since the event's inception in Dublin in 2006. On culture night, arts and cultural organisations, including the national cultural institutions, extend their opening hours until late in the evening to provide the public with increased free access to the various collections, workshops and other events. In 2008, the concept was extended outside of Dublin and, in 2009, 11 towns and cities throughout Ireland participated in the event showcasing the best of their artistic and cultural heritage and facilities and attracting over 200,000 participants-visitors, all of whom enjoyed the opportunity to discover and explore the rich cultural offerings of our various national cultural institutions and other venues. Plans are under way to allow for the further extension of the culture night initiative in 2010.
In accordance with the commitments under the renewed programme for Government, plans for an extensive contemporary art event in Dublin in 2011 are being progressed as part of my Department's cultural tourism initiative. Dublin Contemporary 2011, DC2011, will be a major event that will include the exhibition of leading and emerging Irish and international contemporary art spread across a number of landmark sites in Dublin city centre over a period of up to 12 weeks in 2011.
In the first four months of 2010, visitor numbers to the cultural bodies funded by my Department were up almost 5% on the first four months of 2009. Overall, I am satisfied that my Department is fulfilling its mission statement by supporting our cultural institutions and promoting and encouraging artistic expression, cultural awareness and participation.
I thank the Minister for her reply. Regarding the arts and cultural capital enhancement support scheme, ACCESS, has she any plans to launch an ACCESS III?
Her Department's statement of strategy notes the need to seek business sponsorship for culture, arts, film and so on. What has been done in this regard and what plans has she? The statement also refers to appropriate grant schemes being made available. Will the Minister provide the House with information on what grant schemes are available for small local drama and culture groups as opposed to national groups, as the former are suffering through a lack of funding?
Regarding the question on the ACCESS programme, 40 projects were funded between 2001 and 2004 to the tune of €43 million. The subsequent ACCESS II programme, which will provide €81 million, has seen 63 successful projects announced to date accounting for grants totalling €32 million. A number of these have already been completed, including the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Druid Theatre, Cork Opera House, Waterford's Theatre Royal, the Gallery of Photography and the Irish Film Institute. The scheme is running, but there are no proposals to open it up for new applications.
Regarding the Deputy's question on commercial sponsorship for the arts and culture, I see it more in terms of philanthropy than sponsorship. There is considerable potential, given the contribution of the likes of people such as Ms Loretta Brennan Glucksman or Ms Carmel Naughton. They are both women, but the potential for any individual to support the arts and culture in a philanthropic way as opposed to in terms of the branding and commercialism used in other areas is significant. What was the final question about?
Grant schemes.
And local groups.
There are various grant schemes, but I will forward the details to the Deputy.
How many people are employed in the Department directly in respect of the cultural aspects of its portfolio? Will the Minister update the House on the National Concert Hall?
We have a small Department which works hard. There is a staff of only 108, which breaks down into three parts. There is an assistant secretary in charge of sport, another for culture and a third for tourism. Each of them is backed up by a small team that does tremendous work.
The National Concert Hall is one of the major capital projects we would like to progress. All capital projects have gone back for review to see if we can get better value. I do not have a go-ahead on it yet, but it is something I would like to see proceeding.
The Minister mentioned ACCESS II and the fact that it was ongoing. Is there an overhang of commitments and is the Minister aware of how much is still outstanding on ACCESS II? How much does the Department still owe?
I do not have the specific figures. Some 63 projects were initially announced for €32 million. An additional 13 projects were then announced and €10.29 million in grant aid was given in May 2008. Some 27 of the projects had been completed up to the end of 2009. A further 22 projects have yet to draw down grant aid. These projects have been delayed for a number of reasons — a lot of them from a failure to provide the obligatory matching funding. Some of them have planning difficulties, while some have failed to complete the necessary legal agreements to provide the Department with the required legal charge on the property. I suspect the bigger one is probably a failure to come up with matching funding.
Does the Minister have any concrete plans to encourage philanthropy and support it? Will she examine that whole area, which is a lucrative one for arts and culture? Can she tell us what she is planning to do in the near future regarding the encouragement of and support for philanthropy?
It is an issue that was being led by the Department of the Taoiseach a year or two ago, because it is wider than culture alone. However, culture is one of those areas that could benefit from philanthropy, so I will be following it up at that level.
