Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 November 2021
259. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if further funding will be made available for commemorative activities in 2022 and 2023 to mark the final phase of the Decade of Centenaries; when such funding will be made available to communities that are planning commemoration projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57058/21]
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.
For 2021, I approved a current funding allocation of €5 million to support the commemorative programme this year, including funding of €1.94 million for local authorities under the Community Strand of the programme, to support their leading role in developing community-led, commemorative activities this year. This allocation provided for funding of €50,000 for every local authority in 2021 and a supplementary fund to support local authorities who identified additional, specific requirements.
For 2022, I have again allocated current funding of €5 million to support the Decade of Centenaries Programme, maintaining funding at current levels. 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 shortly when the arrangements are finalised.
Plans are well underway to mark the significant forthcoming centenaries over the remainder of the Decade of Centenaries, including the Civil War and the Foundation of the State. I expect to be in a position to publish a substantive commemorative programme for 2022 in due course and planning is already underway for 2023. My plans for the forthcoming period continue to be informed by the guidance of the Expert Advisory Group on Centenary Commemorations and developed in consultation with the All Party Consultation Group on Commemorations.
My Department has built significant partnerships with key stakeholders, including local authorities, the national cultural institutions, institutions of learning, custodians of records, and creative communities. All of these have an important role in supporting the national conversation about the events of this period and encouraging respectful public discourse and debate.
The approaching centenaries present particularly sensitive and complex challenges. My primary objective in developing plans for the remainder of the Decade of Centenaries, is to ensure that we promote peace and reconciliation on the island of Ireland by encouraging a deeper understanding of the significance of this period, which accepts that the shared historical experiences of those years gave rise to very different narratives and memories.
