Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 July 2022
204. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the current and capital funding that her Department has provided to a venue (details supplied) in 2020, 2021 and to date in 2022, in tabular form; and the way that Exchequer funding was spent in each of the years in question. [35779/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe current and capital funding provided by my Department to the venue referred to by the Deputy for years 2020 and 2021 is set out in tabular from below. To date, no funding has been provided in 2022.
|
Year |
Current |
Capital |
Total |
|
2020 |
0 |
€400,000 |
€400,000 |
|
2021 |
€46,000 |
€600,000 |
€646,000 |
The capital funding is made up of an annual grant of €400,000 for both years plus an additional €200,000 towards a Project Business Case in 2021. In 2021, current funding of €11,000 from Culture Ireland and €35,000 from the Decade of Centenaries 1912-1922 programme was provided.
The Decade of Centenaries funding was in respect of the live streaming of the Abbey's production ‘14 Voices from the Bloodied Field’, a series of performances focusing on the 14 Croke Park Bloody Sunday 1920 victims. The Culture Ireland funding was a contribution towards the costs associated with disseminating the Abbey Theatre production of Dear Ireland 2020: Reflections on a pandemic as part of Seoda, Culture Ireland's online celebration of Irish arts 17 -21 March 202, on Culture Ireland's YouTube Channel.
Examples of the expenditure met from the annual capital grant included items such as IT equipment, lighting & sound equipment, improvements in building accessibility, roof repairs and fire proofing upgrades.
The Arts Council is the statutory body charged with supporting and developing the arts in Ireland and is independent in its funding decisions under Section 24(2) of the Arts Act 2003. Details of Arts Council’s funding for venues is available on the Arts Council’s decisions database listing funding from 2008 to date via the following link www.artscouncil.ie/funding-decisions/
