Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2017
390. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if the Government will commit to the long-term goal of increasing arts funding to the European average of 0.6% of GDP. [4080/17]
View answer391. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs her plans to increase funding in the arts over the lifetime of the Government; and her views on whether funding for the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board should be doubled. [4081/17]
View answer410. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs her views on the recent comments by a person (details supplied) that the Arts Council should be getting three or four times the amount of funding it receives from the Government; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4103/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 390, 391 and 410 together.
The Programme for a Partnership Government contains a very important commitment to work to progressively increase funding to the arts, including the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board, as the economy continues to improve.
In Budget 2017, I secured significant additional funding for the Arts Council and the Irish Film Board. The increase in the Arts Council's allocation in 2017 is €5 million, or 8%, and will assist the Council greatly in implementing its 10-year strategy Making Great Art Work (2016-2025). I also secured an increase of €2 million for the Irish Film Board, representing a 14% increase in its annual budget. This increase in funding will allow the Board to invest more in Irish talent in the year ahead and follows on from a very successful year for the Irish film sector, particularly the indigenous film sector.
Budget 2017 also includes:
- increased funding for all of the National Cultural Institutions;
- an increase of €1 million for Culture Ireland;
- an additional €1 million to the Heritage Council; and
- funding of €5m for the implementation of a Legacy Programme now known as the Creative Ireland Programme and the main implementation vehicle for the priorities identified in the draft framework policy Culture 2025/Éire Ildánach which I published in July last year.
All of this represents real and substantial funding increases across the arts and cultural area and has been welcomed across the sector. It re-affirms the commitment of this Government to progressively increase funding for the arts as the economy improves, as set out in the Programme for a Partnership Government.
As previously pointed out to the Deputy, the source of the reference to 0.6% of GDP is a Council of Europe research project and many European countries, including ten EU member states, are not included in the data. I understand also that the data is not standardised and is not comparable across countries. For example, local authority expenditure on the arts, the artists' exemption tax relief, expenditure on public service broadcasting and the Irish language are not included in the figures for Ireland but comparable figures are included in the data for some other countries.
