Is é rogha an Chathaoir go mbeadh béasaí agat agus go bhfanfadh tú leis an am. Tá an seans ag an Teachta Ó Laoghaire anois, ní agatsa so bí i do thost.

Bogaimid ar aghaidh anois go dtí ceist Uimh. 94. Tá an Teachta Lahart á tógaint. Tá sé seo nascaithe le ceist Uimh. 140 in ainm an Teachta Ryan O’Meara chomh maith.

Is é an fáth leis an gceist seo ná go bhfuil an cuma ar an scéal go bhfuil athrá á rá, nó beagán cur i gcéill, maidir leis an airgead breise caipitil a dúirt an tAire go raibh á thabhairt do Roinn na Gaeltachta laistigh den bhuiséad, airgead a bhí geallta nó fógartha cheana féin sa phlean forbartha náisiúnta.

Dar ndóigh, fáiltím roimh aon airgead breise a chaithfear ar thograí Gaeilge. D’fháiltigh mé roimhe seo nuair a tugadh an gealltanas sa national development plan, nó an plean forbartha náisiúnta, go gcaithfí an t-airgead seo. Is í an cheist ná cén fáth a bhfuil athrá á dhéanamh, amhail gur stuif nua iad seo? Is rudaí iad a bhí geallta cheana féin, go háirithe na trí thogra atá luaite ag an Aire. Ní fhaca mé fós aon bhriseadh síos den airgead caipitil atá á chur ar leataobh. Cá mhéad den sciar sin a chaithfear ar an…

Tuigim nach bhfuil an tAire ag iarraidh méid an sciar a chraobhscaoileadh ag an staid seo má tá tenders ar siúl nó a leithéid, ach más €54 milliún de chaipiteal atá i gceist san iomlán, cé mhéad de sin a bhéas fágtha d’Údarás na Gaeltachta tar éis an trí togra eile? Tá an tAire tar éis a rá go bhfuil a fhios againn cé mhéad atá ag dul nó a bhéas ag dul d’Inis Oírr. Faoin staid seo, ba chóir go mbeadh tuairim éigin ann maidir leis an méid den sciar a bhéas ag dul ar 6 Sráid Fhearchair mar bhí sé sin tuartha nuair a …

Is é "lá na n-úitseach" an Ghaeilge i gcomhair Groundhog Day nó d'fhéadfaí an nath Fraincise déjà vu a úsáid maidir leis an méid atá foghlamtha againn ó thaobh na teanga sa bhuiséad seo. In ainneoin gur fógraíodh ardú i mbuiséad na Gaeilge, is léir go bhfuil roinnt cur i gcéill ar siúl ag Airí Fhianna Fáil agus Fhine Gael. Arís i mbliana, níl an t-airgead atá de dhíth á chur ar fáil do leithéidí Údarás na Gaeltachta, agus gan ach €2.5 milliún dó agus €2 milliún d'Fhoras na Gaeilge á chur ar fáil - sop in áit na scu…

Over 11,000 people have signed a petition to retain, extend and expand the basic income for the arts scheme. A cost-benefit analysis prepared by Alma Economics for the Department has shown that for every €1 invested society receives €1.39 in return, with over €100 million in social and economic benefits. With the budget approaching next week and the pilot due to end in February, will the Minister confirm if the scheme will continue beyond the pilot and what form it will take?

In some ways, I do not know whether it is good or bad that no decision has been made yet, given there is a very short administrative time, between this week and the end of February, for the scheme to continue without interruption. Artists are asking questions, such as whether those who are currently on the scheme can continue on it or a whole new cohort will be involved, or whether there will be increased numbers. The cost-benefit analysis the Minister quoted has shown how effective it has been and that there is th…

I welcome the confirmation that the Minister's intention is to have a basic income scheme, whatever its new title will be. However, part of the problem for artists at the moment is they are unsure of what the new scheme will look like. Obviously, that will be determined somewhat by budgetary factors but there are some things the Minister may be able to explain at the moment. Will it be a new scheme? Will it be totally reworked? Will it be an extension of the current scheme? Is it the case that the current 2,000 wil…

My last attempt to ask this question was disallowed and a freedom of information request has yet to receive a response. I will ask it outright: did the new Minister ignore all normal arm's length criteria and competition-based funding processes so he could provide thousands of taxpayers' euro off the books at the request of somebody who was until January of this year a Government Senator?

That is okay.

I did not name the festival because I believe it deserves to be funded - I have absolutely no problem with that - but I am interested in the way in which the normal funding process was circumvented in this instance. The question is whether there are other ways for festivals to circumvent the small-scale schemes that the Minister mentioned or the Arts Council schemes. Yes, there are occasions when this happens but the Department does not publish a list of all of the groups that got funding outside of the normal chan…

I can answer that directly: no.

If the Minister would listen, I specifically said that Listowel Writers' Week deserves to be properly funded.

Yes but the Minister did not publish that he was giving this money in this format to Listowel, to-----

-----Tralee or to any of the other ones.

The Minister should publish it. That is transparency.

If he is going to do it this way, the Minister will attract applications well beyond the three he mentioned. That is not the process. He set up a process and that is the way in which people should apply for funding and that funding should be increased. The problem is the Minister and his Department are not being transparent in the way it is funding. Yes, there are exceptions and, yes, there is a need-----

There are exceptions and those exceptions include Listowel Writers' Week, Tralee and others, but that should be published. The Minister should be open that this funding stream is available to everybody.

I have no issue with Listowel either.