Vol. 466 No. 6
65 Kathleen Lynch asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the plans, if any, he has to allocate funds towards improvements to the Cork Opera House in view of the allocation of £1.5 million towards the building of a theatre in Letterkenny, County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11947/96]
I can confirm that an application has been submitted to my Department for funding under the Cultural Development Incentives Scheme 1994-99, which I am administering under the Operational Programme for Tourism, in respect of the development of the Cork Opera House.
As the Deputy will be aware, I have approved in principle the funding of eight projects submitted to me under the Cultural Development Incentives Scheme 1994-99, which includes funding of £1.5 million towards the provision of a theatre in Letterkenny. The Deputy will also be aware that, of the eight projects which I have to date approved in principle for funding under the scheme, three are projects based in Cork city. These involve decisions to grant-aid the Cork Public Museum to an amount of £900,000; the Everyman Palace Theatre to £350,000; and the Kino Arthouse Cinema to £100,000.
The advisory committee which I established for this purpose has recently made its recommendations to me on the other applications received under the cultural development incentives scheme. These are now under final consideration by me and I hope to be in a position to make final decisions in the matter in the near future. A decision will be made on the application submitted in respect of the Cork Opera House during this process.
