Cathal Crowe
Question:210. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the main policy achievements of his Department since 22 January 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [70519/25]
View answerWednesday, 10 December 2025
Questions (210)
Written answers
Since I took up office in January this year, my Department has progressed development and implementation of policy across the Arts and Culture, Media, Communications, and Sport sectors. Some of the key achievements are set out below:
Arts & Culture
A cost-benefit analysis of the Basic Income for the Arts pilot concluded that for every €1 of public money invested, society received €1.39 in return. Public consultation found that 97% of the public and the arts sector support a permanent scheme. Arising from the success of the pilot scheme, Government decided to provide funding, as set out in Budget 2026, to provide for a permanent successor scheme.
We have enhanced the tax credit for low to medium budget Irish films, and I announced a new Screen Ireland Irish language slate development fund.
Cruinniú na nÓg 2025 provided over 1,000 free events across the country, celebrating creativity of youth through music, art, circus, storytelling, and film. I launched a new Creative Youth partnership, enhancing inclusivity and access for young people of diverse backgrounds interested in the arts. Creative Ireland’s Shared Island Conference marked the achievements of 47 projects that have fostered partnerships and creativity across the island.
We supported the 2025 International Commemoration of the Great Irish Famine at Gaelic Park, Chicago; launched a Commemorative Programme to mark the 250th anniversary of Daniel O’Connell’s birth; and announced a comprehensive public programme to celebrate the upcoming centenary release of the 1926 Census of Population records - the first Census of the Irish Free State.
I announced the largest single grant round in the 20-year history of Culture Ireland - €1.4 million for the promotion of Irish arts globally. I announced capital grants to eight arts and culture organisations for upgrading and development of their facilities; funding under the Regional Museum Exhibitions Scheme 2025, for Grassroots Music Venues, and for 64 events to support Small Scale Local Festivals and Summer Schools taking place around Ireland in 2025; and funding to support cultural projects with significant cross-border elements that seek to enhance, celebrate or commemorate the artistic, cultural, musical, film or heritage of the Island of Ireland under the Co-operation with Northern Ireland Scheme. We launched the ‘Safe & Sound’ safety training Night-Time Economy initiative, which aims to make Ireland’s nightlife safer for customers and staff.
Redevelopment of the National Archives continued, to be be completed in 2026. I approved construction to begin in 2026 on the Crawford Art Gallery and on the Discover Centre, part of the National Concert Hall.
Media
Ireland’s first National Counter Disinformation Strategy was published in April, providing commitment to strengthen resilience to disinformation by developing lifelong media literacy skills, implementing and enforcing existing regulations, coordination and collaboration between relevant stakeholders, supporting high quality journalism and media plurality, and developing the evidence base for countermeasures. €1.1 million has been allocated in Budget 2026 to assist in the development of media literacy skills and fact checking expertise and research.
The Government published the General Scheme of the Media Regulation Bill, which provides for an updated system for dealing with media mergers, and the Revised General Scheme of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill, which will reform the corporate governance of RTÉ and TG4, in particular by assigning the Comptroller and Auditor General as auditor of RTÉ, strengthening the assessment of the performance and funding of RTÉ and TG4 by the independent regulator, Coimisiún na Meán, and establishing a Media Fund to support the production of public service content by the wider media sector. Coimisiún na Meán launched the Digital Transformation Scheme, which will operate as a contestable award scheme on a platform neutral basis. In Budget 2026, the Department secured increased funding for TG4, with provision for a new digital news service. I announced an allocation of €10 million to Coimisiún na Meán to support public interest journalism.
Communications
The roll out of the National Broadband plan continued at pace and ahead of schedule. For example, this year saw premises on Achill Island connected to high-speed fibre broadband for the first time. In Budget 2026, the Department secured a record capital allocation of €433 million to support the completion of the National Broadband Plan and enhanced funding to the Post Office Network of €15 million per annum, subject to government approval.
The Department is leading ongoing work to improve emergency response and resilience standards in telecommunications networks, following Storm Éowyn. In November, the Sectoral Adaptation Plan for Communication networks was published - a key milestone in ensuring that Ireland’s telecommunication networks will be fit for our future climate challenges.
The Commission for Communications Regulation launched a Short Message Service (SMS) Sender ID Registry to help prevent SMS text scams in Ireland.
Sport
My Department published an International Sports Diplomacy Framework, which will help to develop our reputation as a sporting hub. November saw the official launch of UEFA EURO 2028: Ireland will host seven games including a quarter final - one of the biggest sporting events ever held in Ireland. The €93 million investment is expected to net €449 million in social and economic benefits for Ireland. 2025 saw the first-ever NFL regular season game in Ireland and the official handover of the Ryder Cup – hosting the Ryder Cup in 2027 should provide a substantial economic and tourism boost.
In November, the sod was turned to mark the start of construction of the National Velodrome and Badminton Centre, and planning permission was obtained for the first phase of the National Cricket Centre. The Munster Rugby Centre of Excellence received €2.7 million in funding from the Department under the Large-Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund. €4 million was announced under the Women in Sport Programme for 2025, supporting the Government’s vision that women achieve their full potential and have lifelong involvement in sport. I announced that more than €4 million in Dormant Accounts Funding will be invested in community sports and physical activity initiatives. A record €27 million funding through Sport Ireland in High Performance Sport is a significant step towards the investment objectives of the National Sports Strategy 2018-2027. In Budget 2026, the Department secured funding of €3 million to the FAI to support League of Ireland Academies.