Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 May 2014
135. Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if a percentage of the funding being made available for the development of water treatment in Castlerea, County Roscommon, is being set aside for the arts (details supplied); and if so, the process for disbursing any such funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22119/14]
View answerThe Deputy may be aware that a Government decision of 1997 approved the inclusion in the budgets for all Exchequer-funded capital construction projects of up 1% as funding for an art project, subject to an overall cap of €64,000. The current guidelines on the 'per cent for art scheme', which were drawn up in 2004, seek to set out how project managers are to operate the scheme and to provide a common national approach to its implementation. While my Department has responsibility for the promotion of the 'per cent for art scheme', it does not provide funding or a budget for it.
The scheme does not operate on the basis of there being a specific public art fund from which moneys are drawn down to undertake or to commission works of an artistic nature. Rather, under the terms of the scheme, such works are factored into and funded from the budgets of the capital projects in question by the relevant Government Department or public body undertaking the project. It is a matter for each project promoter or commissioning body to maintain details of such expenditure and I, as the Minister for Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht, have no statutory function in this matter.
