Improving the quality of life for people in Northern Ireland is a priority for Government and has been reflected in the budget allocation for sport, arts and leisure activities.
Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) Minister Edwin Poots, MLA has welcomed the final budget for 2008-2011 which shows increases of 2.1% in year one, 2.8% in year two and 5.3% in year three. The Minister said: “It has been clearly recognised that the work of my Department is important to people and to the economy.
“As important contributors to improving health and lifestyle, and to building the economy and tourism, activities under the broad umbrella of leisure provide an essential dimension to socio-economic life in Northern Ireland. Funding channelled into arts or sport, for example, can have a significant impact on the ground in terms of improving quality of life and promoting wellbeing.”
Referring to the allocation towards sport the Minister said: “Very importantly, the additional £11.5million resource allocation for sport will allow us to begin the implementation of the new 10-year Sport and Physical Recreation Strategy which I hope to launch before the summer. It will focus on increasing the number of young people taking part in sport - one of the key targets of the Strategy will be to get 125,000 children aged 11-16 involved in sport by 2011. It will also focus on halting the decline of adults participating in sport.
“In parallel to the significant revenue allocation for sport, DCAL will also allocate £112million capital investment to provide a range of new and improved sporting facilities throughout Northern Ireland.
“For future generations, the sports budget will also ensure that we seek to maximise the benefits from 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games by providing a range of new high performance sports facilities. Plans to develop a 50m swimming pool in Bangor are well advanced and proposals for other sporting facilities are currently being assessed.”
Turning to the Arts, the Minister continued: “In response to the public consultation, Arts were allocated an additional £3million to bring total planned resource spend to in excess of £55million over the period of the budget. DCAL will also provide in the region of £31.5million capital investment in the arts and cultural infrastructure in Northern Ireland which will contribute towards the development of a new Metropolitan Arts Centre in Cathedral Quarter, the new Lyric Players’ Theatre and a refurbished Crescent Arts Centre.
“Recently we have seen some excellent examples of funding for the arts from other sources, including local government, private sponsorship and philanthropic sources. This is to be commended and is very consistent with Government’s role in the arts.
“Libraries have been allocated an additional £1million which will bring total resource spend to almost £100million over the budget period. This along with the proposed capital investment of £32million will improve opening hours, increase spend on books and deliver more library services online. We will also be able to continue to modernised and improve library buildings.
“The allocation for museums of almost £70millin resource and £23million capital investment will help with the redevelopment and refurbishment of the Ulster Museum along with the continuing upgrade of exhibit and visitors facilities on other sites.
“DCAL welcomes the £5million allocation for Creative Industries Seed Fund as provided under the Innovation Fund. This will contribute to the overall economic growth of Northern Ireland and support creative enterprises in this increasingly important sector of the economy.”
The Minister also confirmed that a number of other capital projects will be delivered over the budget period and throughout the ten year period of the Investment Strategy. These include:
·A new headquarters for the Public Record Office at Titanic Quarter.
Continuation of the work of conservation and protection of the salmon and inland fisheries.
The Minister concluded: “The significant contribution which DCAL makes to the Executive’s priorities under the Programme for Government provides a framework to address a range of social, economic and cultural challenges and take advantage of the very real opportunities which devolution has presented.
“I am grateful to everyone who contributed to the public consultations for the budget and am sure that DCAL will add a more positive dimension to people’s everyday lives and improve the marketability of Northern Ireland as a cultural tourist destination and inward investment location.”
