Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 January 2022
197. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media her strategy to promote participation in creative life amongst older members of communities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2505/22]
View answerThe Creative Ireland Programme is a culture-based programme led by my department to promote individual, community and national wellbeing. Its core proposition is that participation in arts, cultural and heritage-based activities drives personal and collective creativity, with significant implications for individual and societal wellbeing and achievement.
Under its Creative Communities initiative, my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage provide funding to each of the 31 local authorities to enable them to implement their individual Culture and Creativity Strategies 2018-2022. These strategies were developed following extensive local public consultation, and are unique to each local authority reflecting the strategic priorities identified by the local community - including in relation to older people. These community-led strategies (which can encompass creative engagement with older people) has delivered nearly €13.5 million investment to local authorities in four years including, for example, over €870,000 in funding to local authorities in Carlow and Kilkenny.
During 2020, the adverse impacts of the pandemic on the wellbeing of older people became particularly apparent. In response, my Department through the Creative Ireland Programme quickly developed partnerships to deliver a series of creativity-related, mental wellbeing initiatives throughout Ireland in support of older people. The Creativity in Older Age scheme has seen my department invest an additional nearly €1.6 million in 2020 and 2021, including €78,700 to local authorities in Carlow and Kilkenny.
My overall approach to creative engagement for older people is also being informed by national and international research that has consistently pointed to the wellbeing benefits of participation in arts, culture and creativity. The results of a newly-published report by The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) at Trinity College Dublin, which was commissioned by the Creative Ireland Programme in 2020, have shown that older adults who participated in creative activities enjoy a higher quality of life and were less likely to be lonely, depressed and stressed.
In 2022, the Creative Ireland Programme will continue to work closely with partners across government investing in (i) community-led initiatives for older people through Creative Communities alongside, and (ii) more targeted creative engagement with older people from a health and wellbeing perspective.
