14% Increase In Arts Funding For 2016

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, has announced that an additional €5 million in funding has been secured for her department for 2016.

The new funding now brings the department's total budget for the year to €315m, up 14% on 2015.

Heather Humphreys said: "This funding, secured as part of the 2016 Revised Estimates, will allow for additional support for a number of key areas under my Department. I am particularly pleased that, thanks to the economic recovery, we are now in a position to support delivery of Ireland's first ever Presidential Library, The Mary Robinson Centre.

"A number of bodies under my Department’s aegis, namely the Arts Council, Údarás na Gaeltachta, the Heritage Council and the Irish Film Board, will greatly benefit from these increased allocations in 2016.

"The additional funding for the Arts Council will allow them to enhance support to arts organisations around the country on both a small and large scale, further demonstrating the importance attached to supporting our widely recognised artistic and cultural strengths.

"The increased 2016 allocation for the Heritage Council will safeguard and enhance the delivery of its wide range of programmes including the funding of Heritage Officers, Heritage Week, Heritage in Schools, the Discovery Programme, the Irish Landmark Trust, the Irish Walled Towns Network and the community grants programme.

"In the week of the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I am very pleased to be announcing increased support for the Irish Film Board. This increased investment will maximise the benefits brought about by the increase in the cap on eligible expenditure for the Section 481 film tax credit to €70 millon, as announced as part of Budget 2016."

(MH/LM)