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Departmental Policies

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 June 2021

Thursday, 17 June 2021

Questions (276)

Christopher O'Sullivan

Question:

276. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she will outline her key policy achievements in her Department since 27 June 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32726/21]

View answer

Written answers

My Department has a wide-ranging remit across a number of sectors that contribute significantly to our economy while also supporting individual and community well-being right across Ireland. Many of these sectors have experienced severe impacts due to the global Covid-19 pandemic and associated public health measures my Department has continued to make significant progress across all areas of its brief. Further information in relation to policy announcements, consultations and schemes is available on my Department's website at (https://www.gov.ie/en/organisation/department-of-tourism-culture-arts-gaeltacht-sport-and-media/)

I have recently been able to join with my Government colleagues in making a series of positive announcements in relation to the safe and successful reopening of our society including the reopening of the hospitality and tourism sector; returning to in-person cultural and sporting events; the easing of restrictions on sports and dance training; and the reopening of galleries, museums and libraries.

Following on from the Budget 2021 which included funding of €130m for the Arts Council, €104.5m for Sport Ireland, over €30m for Screen Ireland, over €78m the Gaeltacht and Irish language sector and €40.733m for TG4. There was a record level of funding for Tourism overall in Budget 2021, an increase of €59 million over 2020 allocation, to just under €221 million (€220.9 million).

Specific policy achievements include:

- The establishment of a Tourism Recovery Oversight Group and an Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce and ensuing oversight group, to chart a sustainable path for recovery of Ireland's tourism, arts, culture and entertainment sectors.

- Secured an extensive package of supports for the functions under the remit of her Department in the July 2020 Jobs Stimulus Package.

- The inclusion in budget 2021 of a €55m support fund for strategic tourism businesses and €5m for training and digitalisation support in the sector.

- €26m COVID-19 Adaptation Fund for tourism and hospitality business.

- €10m Coach Business Continuity Scheme.

- €10m Ireland Based Inbound Agents Business Continuity Scheme.

- These measures complement the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme, Pandemic Unemployment Payment and Covid Restrictions Support Scheme schemes and the ReStart scheme.

- The new €17m Outdoor Dining Enhancement Scheme being delivered in partnership between Fáílte Ireland and Local Authorities across the country. This scheme is providing funding for tourism and hospitality business to develop and increase their own outdoor seating capacity, and will also provide funding to local authorities to develop permanent outdoor public dining spaces in towns and urban centres, similar to those that exist in various European cities.

- Announcement of a Basic Income Guarantee pilot scheme for artists, as part of the Government’s National Economic Recovery Plan. This was the number one recommendation from artists and the sector through the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce Report-Life Worth living. My Cabinet colleague Minister Heather Humphreys in the Department of Social Protection and I will be developing a proposal for the Basic Income guarantee pilot scheme by July. This is an unprecedented move and I anticipate that the pilot scheme will involve a significant number of artists.

- A Covid-19 funding package of €88.5m was provided in 2020 to support the sport sector. This significant investment benefited all levels of the sport sector, including thousands of grassroots clubs across the country.

- An allocation of €5.9million in Dormant Accounts Funding for a wide range of sport and physical activity measures countrywide, focusing on people with disabilities, people who are educationally disadvantaged and from disadvantaged communities.

- A new High Performance Strategy for the Sporting sector, to be launched in the coming weeks.

- The Live Performance Support Scheme for 2021, under which €25m is being provided to support employment and wellbeing opportunities across all genres of live entertainment and the continued production of high quality artistic output for the public.

- Launch of the Music and Entertainment Business Assistance Scheme under which a fund of €14m is available to businesses in the live entertainment sector that have been significantly negatively affected by COVID-19 restrictions.

- The continued safeguarding and modernisation of institutions through the National Cultural Institutions (NCIs) Investment Programme in the National Development Plan, an ambitious programme of capital investment across all of our NCIs which will ensure that they can continue their legacy of providing engaging cultural and artistic offerings to the people of Ireland. The National Development Plan also includes funding for a cultural and creativity investment programme.

- The 2020 round of the Sports Capital and Equipment Programme closed for applications on the 1st March. Assessment work is underway with allocations expected later this year. Work is also advancing on projects being funded under the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund.

- The progress of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill, which is now undergoing pre-legislative scrutiny.

- The publication of a full suite of guidelines in relation to the safe resumption of activities across the tourism, hospitality, sport and cultural sectors.

- The announcement of a series of outdoor pilot events in sports and live entertainment to provide for the safe return of spectators and audiences.

- The establishment of a language planning fund worth €3.4m in total for Údarás na Gaeltachta and Foras na Gaeilge to maintain the operation of the language planning process in the current year

- The progress of the Official Languages (Amendment) Bill which has now passed Committee Stage in Dáil Éireann.

- Public consultation on the designation of certain sporting and cultural events as being of major importance to society and to ensure that they are available on free to air television service on a live or deferred basis.

- The establishment of the Future of Media Commission jointly with the Taoiseach, securing additional funding for TG4 and securing of Government approval for the integration of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill into the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill.

- The establishment of a Night Time Economy Taskforce, the final report of which I intend to bring to Government shortly.

In addition to sector specific supports, my Department and I have worked closely across Government to ensure that COVID-19 horizontal supports reflect the needs of the sectors under the aegis of the Department, and the combination of sector specific and horizontal supports are detailed in the Government's recently published Economic Recovery Plan.

The policy initiatives to date reflect a strong combination of measures to support key sectors throughout the pandemic, as well as longer term policy initiatives in response to Programme for Government commitments, and that aim to chart a sustainable future for the sectors under the aegis of my Department.

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