Tourism and Cultrual infrastructure to be Prioritised.
www.tcs.gov.ie

Over €360 million will be spent on capital projects across the Tourism, Culture and Sport sectors over the next four years said Minister Mary Hanafin T.D., today (24th November 2010) following the publication of details of the Governments National Recovery Plan.The Minister said in an emailed press release that:

“All Government Departments are making their contribution towards the economic recovery and the Government has made some very difficult choices. The adjustments in allocations for the three sectors, while not easy, are proportionate and measured.”

The savings in current spending for 2011 total €17million, of which €4million will be in administrative non-pay overheads. Total current spending across the three sectors will be in the order of €296million in 2011. Over the lifetime of the plan the Tourism, Culture and Sport areas will contribute savings of €76million in current expenditure.

Minister Hanafin welcomed the clear recognition of the tourism industry in the National Recovery Plan as a labour-intensive sector that will provide job opportunities and foreign revenue earnings as the economy recovers. “Our priority now is to continue to invest, upgrade and promote the tourism product in order to take advantage of the recovery.”

Minister Hanafin said investment in arts, culture and the film sectors in the 2005 to 2010 period is over €1.1bn. “In that time, there has been an unprecedented investment in national and regional arts and culture infrastructure, performance venues and film and TV production capacities. Visitor numbers to the National Culture Institutions have grown by over 75% and participation rates in the culture and arts activities have increased. In the context of the four year plan, we will continue to prioritise capital investment in the film and audiovisual content production sector and maintain the exhibitions programmes at the National Cultural Institutions. We will complete the refurbishment of the Historic Wings of the National Gallery, the upgrade of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and the upgrade of the National Museum on Kildare St. The digitisation programmes of key historic papers and collections will continue and, regionally, we will continue to invest to support the cultural tourism product, especially in the use and deployment of smart technologies.”

Day to day expenditure will be concentrated on national and regional venues, building excellent programming and leveraging the regional festivals programme. “Through Culture Ireland, building on our arts and culture reputation abroad to grow further business and economic links and developing the cultural tourism product market for the home and
international markets.”