Speech for Minister O’Donovan for Budget Press Conference

Good evening all.

Tá áthas orm labhairt libh inniu maidir leis an leithdháileadh de €1.51 billiún (a haon ponc a cúig a haon billiún) tugtha do mo Roinn i mBuiséad 2026, agus cur síos a dhéanamh ar roinnt de na bearta a chothóidh, a fheabhsóidh agus a fhorbróidh na hearnálacha faoi mo chúram.

This is the first budget for my Department in its new configuration with responsibility for Arts and Culture, Media, Telecommunications and Sport.

The sectors of my Department supported by Budget 2026 resonate with the very core of who we are as individuals and as a people. They are an intrinsic part of the daily life of each and every citizen and visitor to this island – whether it is visiting a museum or gallery, listening to music, watching the news, attending a sports event, or accessing the wider business, cultural or sporting world using fibre broadband in every corner of Ireland. The sectors under the aegis of my Department not only enhance our lives through mental and physical well-being, they provide vital employment and, I firmly believe, a significant return on tax-payer investment

The current global challenges can seem overwhelming, with continued global conflict, climate change, and the rise of misinformation. Against this backdrop, the work carried out by my Department, and the bodies under its aegis, is critical in raising spirits and unifying people through sporting experience, participation and fandom, and a vibrant cultural ecology; and also vital in providing dependable, independent media and information and ready access to online communication. I very much believe that the work which this Department supports serves as a guiding light when the world seems sometimes in shadow.

My colleague Minister of State, Charlie McConalogue will give specific details on the funding provided to the Sport Programme area and regarding postal policy.

Budget 2026 provides for increased funding across all programme areas. Additional current funding of €49.8 million has been provided as well a further €81 million in capital uplift. This represents a total increase of 9.5% over 2025.

The provision of €384 million for the Arts & Culture Programme will serve to promote and develop Ireland's world-class artistic and creative strengths at home and abroad, maximising their societal, economic and reputational value for the country.

An allocation of €18.27 million will be provided for the Basic Income for the Arts Scheme and its successor. This facilitates the completion of pilot phase to end February and enables me to bring proposals for a successor scheme to Government, taking account of the quantitative and qualitative research data, the public and stakeholder consultation feedback and the findings of the Cost Benefit Analysis carried out on the scheme. Once I have secured the agreement of Government, I will then open the new scheme for applications. Therefore, it is likely to be in the second half of next year before payments for the successor scheme would begin with applications opening earlier in the year.

An additional €2.1 million has been provided to Screen Ireland, to support their work in making Ireland a competitive destination for major international motion pictures as well as progressing the development of a new strategy to grow the gaming sector in Ireland.

Culture Ireland’s budget has been increased to €8.8 million to help develop and sustain Irish artists’ international careers. In 2026, Culture Ireland will continue to increase funding for its showcase activity across the world, as it is an impactful way for international presenters to be introduced to emerging Irish artists. A further significant allocation will be made in the Revised Estimates to enable Culture Ireland to present a major cultural programme next year as part of Ireland’s presidency of the EU.

I am making an additional allocation of €600,000 to Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann who celebrate their 75th Anniversary in 2026.

Continued funding for the Creative Ireland Programme, delivered directly by my Department, and with partners in local authorities, and across Government Departments and agencies will unlock the power of creativity in many sectors of society and particularly among our young people.

I am allocating an additional €4.7 million across seven National Cultural Institutions. This will address a number of needs across the institutions and also serve to increase education, learning and outreach programmes.

Finally, a total of almost €85 million in capital funding has been allocated to the Arts and Culture Programme for 2026. This will facilitate a number of key projects, including the completion of the repository project in the National Archives. The funding also provides for a major redevelopment project in the Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, which is due to commence later this year. In addition, we are on track to commence the Discover Centre redevelopment project at the National Concert Hall, which will provide for learning and engagement in music. I will also be introducing a new €6m capital works scheme to fund arts capital projects across the country in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government.

On the Communications side, the allocation to my Department has increased by over €40 million to a total of €483 million.

The aim of this programme is to deliver world class connectivity and communications, ensuring that an agile, responsive and resilient digital infrastructure is in place and supporting the transformation of the digital economy for the benefit of every citizen, business, and community in Ireland.

The roll out of the National Broadband Plan will be delivered ahead of time and on budget. I am pleased to allocate €433 million to the Plan next year. Over 420,000 premises are forecast to be passed by the end of 2025, with approximately 4,000 new connections now being completed monthly. Design work is completed in townlands across every county in Ireland with over 567,000 premises surveyed. This programme is transformative for rural Ireland.

I have stated before that we must ensure the security and resilience of our communications and digital infrastructure in face of increasing hazards – both from malicious attacks and from extreme weather events. My Department is reviewing the statutory powers available to me, as Minister, and ComReg, in relation to requirements on operators around network restoration and related timeframes, and network integrity.

In respect of postal policy, the Government is committed to supporting Ireland’s post office network, in line with the programme for Government. These Estimates provide an allocation of €15m for the post office network. This will be subject to Government approval of a successor to the scheme which is in place now, but I am confident that this can be rolled out in 2026. Clearly, the online world has changed the nature of postal services. This provides challenges for the Post Office network, but it also gives rise to opportunities. It is important that the network puts itself in a position to take these opportunities to ensure its sustainability and continue to be a vital community service into the future. Minister McConalogue will speak further on this shortly.

In the Broadcasting and Media Programme, the total allocation for 2026 stands at just under €357 million. This will continue to promote and protect a diverse and plural media sector by ensuring the provision of high-quality public service programming and public interest journalism.

TG4’s public funding for 2026 is just over €65 million, which will enable increased investment in the commissioning of high-quality Irish language content, from children’s programming to documentaries, film and drama. The increased funding in 2025, of over €5m, will also enable TG4 to develop a digital news service to serve the needs of Irish speakers across the country. In line with the Government agreement last year, RTÉ will receive €240 million in public funding to continue to implement its new strategy and serve Irish audiences.

I am also allocating funds to continue to ensure the ongoing independence and recognised integrity of our independent media and to help protect a free and pluralistic media sector and to combat the growing challenge of mis and disinformation. An additional €4.4 million in Exchequer funding has been allocated to support media funding schemes administered by Coimisiún na Meán. Alongside this, a new provision of €1.1 million has been allocated to support the implementation of the National Counter Disinformation Strategy bringing total supports for the independent sector to €35.5 million.

Sport is a core part of Irish life as we saw in recent weeks from Irish successes at the Ryder Cup, the World Athletics Championships and the World Cycling Championships to the popularity and economic success of the NFL game in Croke Park. All the while, right around the country, club championships ignite the passions of our local communities. This Government is committed to supporting that passion from the grassroots local level right up to our elite athletes and teams, who deliver on the international stage. The provision for Sports sees an increase of 25.9% in 2026. This is reflected in our investment in facilities throughout the country via the Community Sport Facilities Fund allocation of €58 million, and through an additional €18.7 million for the Large Scale Sport Infrastructure Fund. We will launch a new round of the Community Sport Facilities Fund in 2026. In addition, we have provided significantly increased funding to Sport Ireland for sporting organisations and programmes. This includes €3m for the FAI, €983,000 for the GAA, €727,000 for the IRFU, €1.56m for the GPA and €1.5m for our High-Performance Programme.

These increases will allow for the delivery of the FAI League of Ireland academies, support the IRFU to enhance women’s rugby and go towards the development of hurling. We also have a number of important Major Sports Events planned over the next two years.

I am confident that the increased Budget allocation for my Department for 2026 will put the sectors in good stead for the future and enable to build upon our good work today and strength our progress in a sustainable way.

Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.