The Department for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands has announced a new £36 million project to assist in the provision and development of centres for arts and cultural activities throughout the State.
Called the Arts and Culture Capital Enhancement Support Scheme (ACCESS), the funding will be allocated over four years from 2001 to 2004.
According to the Minister, Ms de Valera, the scheme's main aim "is to ensure all our citizens have easy access to adequate venues for the creation, expression and appreciation of arts and culture, including our heritage".
She envisages the project complementing the Arts Council's current three-year plan to which her Department has assigned £100 million.
Ms de Valera has issued some information about the form ACCESS will take.
Four principal categories of cultural infrastructure will be eligible - arts centres, theatres, galleries and museums - and the funds will be allocated under three broad strands. The first of these covers the provision of large-scale infrastructure development to meet the demonstrable needs of a region, county or city.
Projects qualifying under this strand will include those facilitating the development of strategic partnerships between local authorities, the arts sector and what the Department describes as "other key players".
A maximum grant of 75 per cent of eligible expenditure will be offered under this strand, and the same percentage will be available for successful applicants seeking assistance for the redevelopment of facilities and venues. The Department will consider the construction of new or additional structures as well as the refurbishment of old buildings.
The third strand is aimed at smaller-scale community-based projects with both new and established facilities eligible. Although the maximum grant of 75 per cent for total expenditure is applicable here, in exceptional circumstances up to 85 per cent may be provided.
Because the Department will not be offering all the money needed for this scheme's implementation, its eventual budget could exceed £50 million to be spent on venue development.
A Department spokesman pointed out that whereas a similar scheme, the CDIS, which ended last year, had been funded by the EU, ACCESS grants would come from the Exchequer.