Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 June 2016
204. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she can provide a list of all spending on the arts sector on both the current and capital side in each of the years 2011 to 2016, to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17350/16]
View answerDetails of the funding allocations made available to my Department are published each year in the Revised Estimates Volume with the outturn published in the annual Appropriation Account. These publications are available on the website of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and on the website of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Most of my Department's arts and culture budget is allocated to the agencies under its remit. Within these allocations, the Arts Council is the primary State agency for funding the arts in Ireland. In 2016, I provided €60.1m to the Arts Council, an increase of over 7.5% since 2014. This does not include any specific funding for commemorations. Details of the Arts Council's expenditure including its individual grants can be viewed on the Arts Council's decisions database which provides a listing of 2008-2016 Arts Council funding decisions. Decisions are routinely published in the Arts Council newsletter, and decisions are also recorded in the Arts Council's annual reports, which are available online.
Where my Department makes direct grants to organisations, the figures are published on the website of my Department at www.ahg.gov.ie. The figures for 2016 will be published in due course. It should be noted that the support provided directly by my Department for the arts primarily relates to capital investment in arts infrastructure. In this regard, I announced a new €9 million investment scheme for arts and cultural centres to run over the next three years focussed on upgrading the existing stock of arts and cultural centres around the country.
My Department is finalising the guidelines and application forms in relation to the scheme which I intend to open for applications very shortly.
