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Departmental Expenditure

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020

Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Ceisteanna (369)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Ceist:

369. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht the specific heritage education initiatives funded by her Department in 2019 referred to in the Public Service Performance Report 2019; the amount provided to each initiative in funding; and the number of children engaged by each initiative. [21919/20]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

This refers to the Heritage Council's Heritage in Schools programme. The Heritage in Schools Scheme provides a panel of Heritage Specialists who visit primary schools throughout the country. The aim of the Scheme is to encourage awareness of the genius of the natural and cultural world that surrounds us in our daily lives and engage children in a direct experience of their heritage, preferably outside the classroom. The Scheme supports the aims and objectives of the Social, Scientific and Environmental Education (SSEE) curriculum and provides an additional educational tool and resource for teachers. The scheme is part-funded by the school and the Heritage Council.

The Heritage Council is funded by my Department and in 2019, I allocated funding of €6.588m as part of the annual Estimates process. The funding then allocated by the Heritage Council to the Heritage in Schools programme and the numbers of schools and children engaged are set out below

Funding Allocated

No of Schools

No of Children

€449,714

1,074 schools

over 116,500 children

I am informed by the Heritage Council that the Programme successfully moved to an online forum this year due to public health restrictions. School visits were, of course, put on hold due to COVID 19. However the spirit of the scheme has been kept alive, with over 40 online resources developed with the heritage specialists, covering a vast range of topics including potato planting, folklore on herbs, beetle identification, modelling archaeological sites out of papier maché and singing traditional songs. The Heritage Council is now planning to pilot a new type of virtual visit of heritage specialists to schools. The intention is to maintain the live interaction between a heritage practitioner and the students, following positive feedback from a survey of primary school principals.

More detailed information on this Programme and the Heritage Council’s other activities is available on its website www.heritagecouncil.ie or by contacting the Council directly.

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