Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 March 2017
67. Deputy Fiona O'Loughlin asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs her plans to make departmental funding available for multicultural integration events to communities such as Kildare town which have a large multicultural society; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11366/17]
View answerThe Taoiseach and I launched the Creative Ireland Programme/Clár Éire Ildánach 2017 – 2022 on the 8 December 2016 as the Government Legacy Programme for Ireland 2016 and as the main implementation vehicle for the priorities identified in Culture 2025/ Éire Ildánach, the draft cultural policy which I published in July 2016.
This is a cross-Government initiative to mainstream culture and creativity in the life of the nation and to promote individual, community and national well-being. This will focus on boosting cultural provision and participation in communities and harnessing the goodwill and engagement generated by the 2016 commemorative programme.
The core proposition of this programme is that participation in cultural activity drives personal and collective creativity, with significant implications for individual and societal well-being and achievement. The programme is based on five pillars:
1. Enabling the creative potential of every child
2. Enabling creativity in every community
3. Investing in our creative and cultural infrastructure
4. Establishing Ireland as a centre of excellence in media production
5. Unifying our global reputation
The second pillar – Enabling creativity in every community – will be implemented primarily through our local authorities. This is because local authorities are the primary instruments of community engagement and second, local authorities have a particular capacity for engaging citizens through local programme delivery including cultural events.
Each local authority has now established a Culture Team bringing together arts officers, librarians, heritage officers, museum curators, archivists and other relevant personnel led by a Director of Services, with a nominated person as 'Creative Ireland Co-ordinator'.
A dedicated budget of €1m from the overall Creative Ireland Programme budget of €5m has been allocated to the local authorities towards the implementation of initiatives under Pillar Two including the publication of a Culture and Creative Plan for each county - reflecting at local level the overall structure and aims of the national programme - and the implementation of Cruinniú na Cásca, a programme of arts activities and events on Easter Monday. This funding will be in addition to the normal funding provided by the local authorities for cultural and artistic initiatives.
I understand that additional support will also be made available to the local authorities for these initiatives by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government.
I am confident that this additional funding, together with the Culture Teams being put in place, will go a long way to promoting cultural activity across the country including multicultural events.
