284. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will provide in tabular form a breakdown of all third level courses, training programmes and courses provided for employees of his Department, and the accompanying cost, for the 2013-2014 academic year, from 1 September 2013 to the end of June 2014. [30090/14]

As the Deputy will be aware, my Department is responsible for a broad range of programmes in the arts, heritage and language sectors. The successful development, management and delivery of those programmes requires my Department to have staff with Irish language skills and other skills across a broad range of disciplines, including genealogy, marine archaeology, ecology and other disciplines relating to the natural and built heritage, as well administrative and organisational skills in areas such as management, law, HR, ICT and finance.

The following table gives a breakdown and accompanying cost of third level courses, training programmes and other courses undertaken by staff of my Department for the period 1 September 2013 to 30 June 2014. The diversity of these courses reflects the broad range of work undertaken by my Department. In the case of some of the training courses and academic studies referred to, several staff members are participating and the costs reflect this. Staff in my Department also availed of in-house training or courses run by other public bodies, which accrued no direct cost to my Department. These are not included in the following list.