Debate contribution: Arts Policy and Funding
Debate contribution by Mr Gordon Lyons on .
- MLA
- Mr Gordon Lyons
- Party at the time
- Democratic Unionist Party
- Date
- 8 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Arts Policy and Funding
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5674122
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I am grateful to the Member for highlighting the issue again. I will say what I said before, which is that we find ourselves in a constrained environment. I am looking for the best budget settlement for my Department so that I can fund all the areas that are so critical, including the arts. Again, I put it on record that, during my time in office, we have seen an increase in arts funding to the Arts Council alone, and, of course, I have funded the arts in other ways outside the Arts Council. There has been an increase from £11·8 million in the year in which I took office to £12·71 million in the past year. Capital funding has gone up from £1·32 million to £1·96 million. I know that that is not enough. I know that it does not help us to do all the things that we want to do, but it says something that, when we are in the midst of such intense budgetary pressures, with cuts having to be made in other areas, we have had an above-inflation — yes, ever so slightly — increase. I will try very hard to make sure that we get the funding to where it needs to go, but that will depend on funding becoming available more widely.
219 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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