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Creative Ireland Programme

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 October 2018

Tuesday, 2 October 2018

Questions (67)

Niamh Smyth

Question:

67. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the way in which each of the specific commitments under pillar 2 of the Creative Ireland programme enabling creativity in every community has been met; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39812/18]

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Oral answers (7 contributions)

I ask the Minister to specify which of the commitments under pillar 2 of the Creative Ireland programme have been met; and to make a statement on the matter.

Pillar 2 of the Creative Ireland programme has been and continues to be a real driver of creativity at local level. The programme is led by local authorities, each of which has established a cross-sectoral culture team led by a Creative Ireland co-ordinator. In that regard, this year my Department allocated €2 million, while the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government allocated €1 million to the 31 local authorities. That has allowed us to allocate approximately €96,000 to each local authority which has enabled them to support an extensive programme of activities, initiatives and events in each county.

So far in 2018, over 400 initiatives around Ireland have been funded under pillar 2 of the programme, a significant increase on the figure for 2017. The initiatives include a range of multi-disciplinary projects, grant schemes, concerts, conferences, exhibitions, festivals, outreach projects, publications, research programmes, workshops and other activities. They cover a wide range of topics such as archaeology, architecture, biodiversity, crafts, heritage, dance, film, history, literature, music, photography, poetry, storytelling, theatre and the visual arts. In Deputy Niamh Smyth's area, very exciting and innovative projects are being pursued such as song writing workshops in Breifne College in Cavan town and innovative theatre projects which bring work onto the streets of Cavan to get as many people involved in culture and creativity as possible. County Monaghan also has an exciting programme of events, with some great initiatives for children and young people such as the Creative Enterprise showcase for primary schools. Such activities form part of each local authority's five-year culture and creative strategies which were launched by me, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, on 12 September. The strategies highlight the critical role local authorities play as providers and enablers of cultural and creative experiences in communities across Ireland, with all of the vitally important social and economic consequences that follow.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

With collaboration and shared purpose at the heart of the Creative Ireland programme, each strategy provides meaningful opportunities for people and their communities, together with the local authority, to build and nurture a creative society. The strategies are available online and my colleague the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government and I look forward to supporting their continued implementation.

Many hours have been spent in the House discussing the proportion of Creative Ireland's budget which was spent on advertising. That said, I am very interested in what has been achieved in practical terms. The Minister mentioned conferences, courses, festivals, grants and so on, but I ask her to address the specifics of the commitments given in the programme.

Pillar 2 of the Creative Ireland programme is entitled Enabling Every Community. There are six specific commitments under that pillar, one of which is Cruinniú na Cásca. As the Minister will be aware, Cruinniú na Cásca was very successful in its first term and I understood it was intended to be rolled out every year. However, it was scrapped and in its place Cruinniú na nÓg, an event to celebrate creativity for children, was introduced. Will the Minister set out the roadmap for the way these events, projects, concerts and conferences are being measured in terms of what they are achieving? What measuring tool is the Minister using to determine if they are achieving the criteria and objectives set out by Creative Ireland in the first place?

Pillar 2 of Creative Ireland is very important, and it is important that each local authority uses, in a robust and imaginative way, the moneys it receives. These are the programmes for Cavan and Monaghan, and both the cathaoirleach of Cavan County Council, Councillor Madeleine Argue, and the cathaoirleach of Monaghan County Council, Councillor Cathy Bennett, set out their ambitious targets for their culture plans, which we launched recently.

We spent €1.25 million on Cruinniú na Cásca in 2017. This year, we had Cruinniú na nÓg on 23 June. Additional funding of €650,000 was given to the local authorities. The local authorities must account for how they spend the money we give to them, which is growing every year. It involves all of the community and many moving parts to encourage children, the elderly and everybody else to be creative and explore their imagination and innovation in terms of culture.

Is the Minister satisfied that what Creative Ireland is doing through its local authorities does not undermine in any way the Arts Council role in all of this? I spoke to many artists and there is a concern, which I mentioned previously to the Minster, that Creative Ireland might not have the arm's length approach that is respected and understood to be happening within the Arts Council. To return to the question, the most important aspect of any funding streams is delivery but also to analyse the projects being delivered to determine if they are meeting the aims and criteria in terms of what they were set up to do. What is the Minister's measuring tool to ensure that Creative Ireland and the programme pillars are achieving what they set out to do?

It is very clear in this particular Department. The legacy programme of Creative Ireland has been a success in terms of the five pillars to enable every child to have access to tuition in music, drama, art and coding. That is the first pillar. The Deputy delineated a question specifically on enabling creativity in every community. Each local authority produced a culture and creativity plan last year. We have the breakdown of the spend on Cruinniú na Cásca, which, as I said, was €1.25 million. The local authority partnership last year was €1 million, and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government gave €1 million, so they got €64,000 each. We will increase that.

The spend on the citizen engagement was €900,000. We have a breakdown of that. The figure for the events, festivals and partnerships was €490,000. The spend on digital content was €400,000, online-international was €200,000, and administrative was €500,000, making a grand total of €5 million for last year.

It is an all-of-Government initiative, primarily delivered through existing structures. The Arts Council has its role. There is no competing in that regard. The Arts Council is at arm's length. It is up to it how it spends its money. There is also the film board, the relevant Departments and the local authorities. The objectives are delivered. The Arts Council gets funding every year to deliver its objectives, one of which is Making Great Art Work.

Approval has been given to Deputy Heydon to take Deputy Deering's question.

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