Gary Gannon
Question:24. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media what concrete proposals she intends to take to combat the dearth of artistic venues in the city of Dublin. [3706/23]
View answerThursday, 26 January 2023
Questions (24)
Written answers
Urban planning and development policy is primarily a matter for local authorities and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. County and city development plans are drawn up by local authorities in accordance with their functions under the Planning and Development Acts. In this context I understand that the Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028 was recently adopted and it came into effect on 14 December 2022.
I am aware of the particular issues in the city of Dublin and the difficulties in the provision of artistic venues here. In recognition of these issues, Dublin City Council has received a capital allocation from my Department of up to €3 million specifically to assist the Council in the provision of artists’ workspaces in the capital. The City Council is currently working to identify develop and make available a range of artists workspaces. The Council may use this funding to provide workspaces for artists in a single development or in a number of locations in the city.
Last year, I launched and rolled out the Night-Time Economy (NTE) Support Scheme in support of Actions 1 and 12 of the NTE Taskforce Report with an allocation of €4 million. This Scheme provided support for cultural activity in pubs, nightclubs, cafés and other suitable licensed and unlicensed premises during off-peak times. Over 470 applications were received with well over 2,000 events taking place across the country including Dublin City.
Last year, I allocated €2m for capital works to commercial entertainment venues throughout Ireland under the Commercial Entertainment Capital Grant Scheme and this support allowed businesses in the sector to survive the pandemic and stimulated their continuing recovery.
Recent decades have seen the development of a nationwide infrastructure of arts centres including venues overseen by local authorities and supported through my Department’s capital schemes. These investment programmes, will see the delivery of significant redevelopments in our cultural institutions and arts and cultural centres citywide.
The Arts Council currently provides programming and revenue supports to a range of arts centres in Dublin city. Record funding of €130m annual funding for the Arts Council continues to be in place for the third year running. The Council is exploring, with Dublin Port Company, the possibility of creating artists workspaces in buildings in the port area.
Under the Creative Ireland Programme, my Department has partnered with other departments and local authorities with substantial investment to deliver thousands of community-led creative projects many in Dublin city.