Vol. 457 No. 6
3 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the current status of the Arts Council's three year plan for 1995-1997; and if the main provisions of the plan will be implemented within the time frame set out. [15689/95]
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the Government has approved "The Arts Plan 1995-1997" and has decided that I should discuss with the Minister for Finance its implementation in the context of overall Government finances. As this decision was taken only last Tuesday, I am not in a position at this stage to elaborate further about the implementation of the plan.
I am pleased to be assured that the Government has finally approved the arts plan. Will the Minister agree that the arts plan has been underfunded to the tune of £3 million in the first year of the plan? It was promised that £19.6 million would be paid to the Arts Council to implement the plan, but to date only £16.5 million has been paid out. Does the Government propose to compensate for that shortfall in its funding in 1996?
When I assumed responsibility for the Arts Council its funding was £10.25 million. As the Deputy stated, its funding was £16.25 million last year. That increase was well deserved and is short of the figure I envisaged for the Arts Council, one component of the plan. The Deputy is correct that the figures envisaged for the first year of the three year plan included a figure of £19.5 million. It is a matter for discussion between the Minister for Finance and me as to how the plan can be delivered. I welcome the support for the plan from all sides of the House, but Deputy Quill will appreciate that I must reconcile my personal wishes for the most speedy implementation of the plan with an economic logic that would be driven even harder by her party.
Will the Minister accept that the timescale for the implementation of this plan is of the essence and if it is not financed as promised its provisions will not be put in place? If the gap between moneys promised and moneys granted widens in the second and third year compared to what happened in the first year, then assuredly the arts plan will fail.
I like to give the House the maximum information. I still hope that I will be able to stay within the time period of the plan. It is stated that a figure of £26 million funding will be reached at the end of the period of the plan. Having regard to that, we must decide how to structure the plan in terms of time. The happy consequence of a Government decision taken this week is that it is approved as the framework for arts development for the next period. We need to consider the specification of the timeframe for the plan which is structured around seven modules. The Deputy is correct in saying that if the plan could not be funded at the level originally envisaged in the three year period an extension of the timeframe for the implementation of those seven modules would be required. However, I am having meetings with my colleague the Minister for Finance, one of which I will be attending when I finish Question Time, and I am sure I bring the good wishes of many Members of the House with me.
I assure the Minister he has the full support of my party and the House in his quest to have the plan fully funded. It would be unacceptable at this stage to set about revising the timeframe for the implementation of this excellent plan.
