The Arts Council has expressed delight at the announcement that it will get a 25 per cent increase in funding next year. The extra £5.16 million was promised in the programme for government and will bring the council's budget to £26 million in 1998.
The Minister for the Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, confirmed yesterday that the increase had been met in the Book of Estimates.
She said it was a "clear demonstration of the commitment of the Government to the development of the arts in Ireland".
She added that while "the previous government found it necessary to ask the Arts Council to redesignate its original three-year `Arts Plan 1995-97' as a five-year plan ending in 1999, the new level of funding would now allow it complete the plan in 1998".
The council's funding was increased by 13 per cent last year, but this was criticised at the time as representing a £12 million shortfall on the three-year programme, which had been prepared by the council and endorsed by the-then minister and the Cabinet.
Welcoming Ms de Valera's announcement, the council chairman, Prof Ciaran Benson, called it "the Government's act of confidence in the Arts Council and recognition of the contribution of the arts to the quality of contemporary Irish life".
The organisation's director, Ms Patricia Quinn, said artists and audiences throughout the country would feel the impact of the increase, and the council looked forward to reporting to Government on the achievements realised by it.
The Minister noted in her announcement that the Programme for Government made specific reference to support for artists who work in the Irish language as well as artists with disabilities, and to the need for more regional emphasis in arts development.
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