Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 November 2021
322. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the funding allocated to Decade of Commemorations committees in each county in 2021; if the funding will continue into 2022; if funding will be made available specifically to provide memorials to the former residents of county homes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52792/21]
View answerMy role, as Minister with responsibility for leading the co-ordination of the Decade of Centenaries Programme, is to help ensure that the challenging events of this important and formative period in our history (1912-1923) and associated themes, are meaningfully, proportionately and sensitively remembered.
I approved an overall funding allocation of €1.94 million for local authorities in 2021 under the Community Strand of the Programme, to support their leading role in developing community-led, commemorative activities this year. This allocation provides for funding of €50,000 for every local authority and a supplementary fund to support local authorities who have identified additional, specific requirements. My intention is to maintain the funding allocation of €50,000 for each local authority into 2022. Further announcements in this regard will be made when the arrangements are confirmed.
Under the Community Strand, my Department recognizes that each local authority is best placed to determine what’s appropriate for their local area, in light of local history and expertise, and to make decisions concerning initiatives to be supported from their funding allocation. My Department advises, however, that all initiatives should be aligned with the principles and guidance of the Expert Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations, and has provided comprehensive guidance for the allocation of funding, to assist local authorities.
I must advise the Deputy that the provision or maintenance of memorials, erection of monuments, plaques, busts, or statues, and the production of commemorative medals or pins are not currently supported under my Department's funding allocation. However, it is, of course, within the discretion of individual local authorities to provide support from within their own resources to local communities who wish to erect and maintain memorials, where this is deemed the appropriate approach.
It is anticipated that local authorities will receive a number of requests from commemorative committees and community groups seeking support for the erection of monuments and other memorials as we navigate through the sensitive forthcoming period of commemorations.
While we recognise that these incidents and actions are undoubtedly of great local significance in the narrative of the part played by individual counties during the Struggle for Independence and Civil War, this is just one element within the Community Strand of the overall Decade of Centenaries Programme. There is scope for a rich diversity of interesting and engaging commemorative initiatives to be curated from within the annual funding allocation from my Department to each of the local authorities.
