Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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411. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht his plans to advance the cultural ties between Ireland and France; if his Department has engagement with the Irish Cultural Centre in Paris to promote Irish culture; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36476/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The Culture Ireland Division of my Department promotes Irish arts and culture worldwide including supporting Irish artists to present their work in France.

The Centre Culturel Irelandais in Paris has long been recognised for its strategic importance in promoting Irish culture and the Culture Ireland Division of my Department accordingly supports its annual culture programme. It is the key European cultural venue in which the State has invested and Culture Ireland Division works closely with the Director in delivering a high class programmes across all art forms.

For the first six months of 2013, to mark Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the EU, my Department put in place an extensive Culture Programme, Culture Connects, which had a special focus on Paris with much of the activity taking place in the Centre Culturel Irelandais. This offered the opportunity to project a strong, positive image of Ireland to audiences within the EU, to celebrate our historic cultural engagement with Europe, and to portray our world-class contemporary artistic strengths in a key European city. High profile events in France included

- the Marché de la Poésie et sa Périphérie festival in June this year which I personally attended, where Ireland was the feature country and the Nobel Laureate, Seamus Heaney was among the many Irish artists participating,

- the production of Rian by Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre which sold out many months in advance and was seen by over 5,000 people,-an exhibition of the work of Eileen Gray at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, visited by around 500,000 people, which was used to cross promote contemporary Irish design,

- an exhibition of Irish designed furniture by Zelouf and Bell,

- a special multidisciplinary festival of Irish culture, which included performances by Colin Dunne, the Gare. St Lazare Players Ireland and Altan, in Cherbourg,

- a celebration of the work of Dundalk born Peter Rice, who worked as an engineer on some of the world's most iconic buildings of the second half of the twentieth century, including the Sydney Opera House, Centre Pompidou and the Louvre Pyramid and

- Fête de la Musique which featured Irish musicians, including The Gloaming and Delorentos and attracted an audience of 2,000 people.

Other initiatives in France, supported by my Department through the Irish Film Board, include the Cannes Film Festival and the Clermont Ferrand Film Festival where the Culture Ireland Division has supported an Ireland short film stand for many years.

The cultural ties that exist between Ireland and France are strong and I am committed to maintaining and building that bond.