637. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport when the new national guidelines for the per cent for art scheme will be published. [64645/26]

The Per Cent for Art scheme is a government initiative, first introduced in 1978, whereby 1% of the cost of any publicly funded capital, infrastructural and building development can be allocated to the commissioning of a work of art. Since 1997 this scheme has been made available to all capital projects across all government departments.

A National Per Cent for Art Committee was established in 2022 in relation to developing the Scheme to include an enhanced 'all of Government' approach and updating the national guidelines. The committee, chaired independently by Dr Ciarán Benson, included representatives of government departments and public agencies charged with managing public capital programmes. The Arts Council provided expert guidance and secretariat function to the committee. The final report of the Committee was received in the Department in October 2025. This report will be the basis of a new edition of Guidelines for the Per Cent for Art Scheme.

While the priority of the Department and the Arts Council in the intervening period has been on the implementation of the recommendation set out in the Report of Expert Advisory Committee (EAC) following their independent review, my Department will now engage with the incoming Director of the Arts Council to progress the prompt publication of the Guidelines.