Vol. 528 No. 3
19 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the purposes for which the £1 million allocated in the budget for the Ark Cultural Centre for Children will be spent; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30003/00]
The once off £1 million announced by the Minister for Finance in the budget for the Ark Cultural Centre will help support a practical but visionary action plan which has been developed by the Ark to extend its services. The ark has been very successful since it opened in 1995 and is now regarded as a centre of excellence of arts provision for children. However due to this very success its building in Temple Bar has reached operational capacity. The new action plan, which is costed at over £2 million has the aim of extending access to the arts programmes and activities of the ark through the development of innovative outreach and touring initiatives and through the use of information technology. In particular the action plan will promote initiatives to provide access to the arts for children that for reasons of social or economic exclusion, ill health or special needs cannot access the programmes that take place in the current Ark building in Temple Bar.
