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Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan and Dr. Olive Braiden, Chair of the Board of the National Gallery of Ireland in the doorway of the Milltown Wing at the announcement of the Refurbishment of the Gallery in 2013 .

Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan today announced plans to begin drafting a National Cultural Policy – Culture 2025 – which will set out the high-level aims and policies of the Government in the area of culture, for the period up until 2025.

Culture 2025 will be the first comprehensive cultural policy to emerge from Government in several decades.

Recognising the significance of this policy, Minister Deenihan said:

The National Cultural Policy will illuminate the intrinsic value of the arts, creativity and our dynamic nation’s intellectual achievements. It will demonstrate how culture can expand and enhance an inclusive society, by delivering an arts education, creating career pathways, providing avenues for expression for our citizens, driving innovation and contributing to our economic well-being.

Culture 2025 will serve to maximise Irish cultures’ contribution to society in general and will focus on:

• The meaning of culture in the 21st century;
• What can be done to embed culture at the heart of public sector decision-making and discourse, and in corporate and private sector decision-making;
• Policies for growth and expansion;
• International representation and collaboration;
• The delivery of cultural services in the digital age; and
• Issues relating to intellectual property, copyright and associated matters.

The intention is to start a wide-scale and sustained consultation process using principles of openness and transparency, where cultural agencies and individual, interested stakeholders across Ireland, will have the opportunity to highlight the keystones that the Government should adopt in developing a cultural policy.