Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure
| Department overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 December 1999 |
| Preceding Department |
|
| Dissolved | 5 May 2016 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Headquarters | Causeway Exchange, Bedford Street, Belfast, BT2 7EG |
| Employees | 269 (September 2011) |
| Annual budget | £112.1 million (current) & £16.3 million (capital) for 2011–12 |
| Website | www.dcalni.gov.uk |
The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL), translated in Irish as An Roinn Cultúir, Ealaíon agus Fóillíochta and in Ulster-Scots as Männystrie o Fowkgates, Airts an Aisedom, was a devolved government department in the Northern Ireland Executive. The minister with overall responsibility for the department was the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure.
After the election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2016, the DCAL was closed and its roles and functions were amalgamated with other departments in order to reduce the size of the Northern Ireland Executive.
DCAL's overall vision is a "confident, creative, informed and healthy society". It describes its mission as delivering economic growth and enhancing the quality of life in Northern Ireland by "unlocking the full potential of the culture, arts and leisure sectors."
The last Minister was Carál Ní Chuilín (Sinn Féin). The Minister was, by virtue of office, the Keeper of the Records for Northern Ireland.
The department had the following main responsibilities:
Broadcasting, intellectual property and the administration of the National Lottery are reserved to Westminster and are therefore not devolved .
DCAL's main counterparts in the United Kingdom Government were:
Its main counterparts in the Irish Government were:
Following a referendum on the Belfast Agreement on 23 May 1998 and the granting of royal assent to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 on 19 November 1998, a Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive were established by the United Kingdom Government under Prime Minister Tony Blair. The process was known as devolution and was set up to return devolved legislative powers to Northern Ireland. DCAL was one of five new devolved Northern Ireland departments created in December 1999 by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and the Departments (Northern Ireland) Order 1999.
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