1528. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport to list the national cultural institutions; the funding provided to each institution; the number of visitors to each institution; the number of staff in each institution; the funding and staff numbers per visitor provided to each institution; the number of staff approved for each institution; and the additional cost of funding the approved staff numbers not currently employed, in tabular form. [57367/26]

The term "National Cultural Institutions" is used to refer to a number of collecting institutions holding national collections of historical artefacts or artworks, and to two venues providing the necessary capacity and settings for orchestral and other musical events, and for theatre.

These bodies are

• The Abbey Theatre

• The Chester Beatty Library

• The Crawford Art Gallery

• The Irish Museum of Modern Art

• The National Archives of Ireland

• The National Concert Hall

• The National Gallery of Ireland

• The National Library of Ireland

• The National Museum of Ireland

Before outlining the details requested by the Deputy, I wish to note the particular arrangement with regard to two National Cultural Institutions, namely the National Archives and the Abbey Theatre.

The Abbey Theatre receives its annual current expenditure allocation from within the funding provided to the Arts Council. The National Archives is a functional division of my Department and the costs associated with pay in the National Archives is funded from within my Department's overall allocation for pay.

I have therefore excluded these two National Cultural Institutions from the table below.

* The figure for the number of staff employed includes staff that are not employed full-time, while the numbers approved as per the REV refers to Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) staff. However, in the case of the National Concert Hall, the figure for staff employed excludes those staff who work reduced hours in customer-facing duties specifically while performances are underway.

** The Crawford Art Gallery closed for refurbishment in 2024 and therefore has no visitor numbers for 2025.

The Deputy also refers to the cost of funding approved staff numbers not currently employed in each National Cultural Institution. I understand that the Deputy is referring to the staff figures that are published in the Agency Statement for certain National Cultural Institutions, which form part of the Revised Estimates Volume (REV) that is published each year by the Department of Public Expenditure ,Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation. In the case of the National Concert Hall, the Crawford Art Gallery, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and the Chester Beatty Library these are funded from within a single subhead of my Department's Vote but there is no Agency Statement contained in the REV in respect of these Institutions. The approved staffing figures for these Institutions are nonetheless calculated as part of the same overall process.

Where the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) staff currently employed by any particular National Cultural Institution is less than the approved figure, it is not possible to provide the specific cost of employing the balancing number, as this would depend on the combination of roles which the Institution would seek to fill, and the grade and salary scale applicable in each case.

Notwithstanding the staff figures published in the Agency Statements, each National Cultural Institution must ensure that the total staffing cost for Exchequer-funded positions does not exceed the amount allocated for pay in its annual allocation from my Department.