Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Licken and Mr. Kelly for their presentations. One of the biggest challenges we face is to create confidence in our economy and give confidence to people that they can go out and spend on recreation, the arts and entertainment. That is not going to be easy, but it is a challenge all of us in the Chamber face. In terms of the arts, the season has been almost written off for many during what is generally the busiest time of the year. Have we explored every option for further online access to exhibitions and events? Have we considered the different audiences that might not normally be considered? Have we looked at extending the season beyond what it normally would be into the winter months and having a major winter programme?

The arts sector is imaginative, innovative and resilient and there are opportunities to stretch out this season and plan for the 2021 season. Funding could be made available. The arts sector often has to deal with the unknown nature of funding, and looking for funding on a month-to-month basis creates a problem.

I refer to the Fáilte Ireland presentation. There are a lot of conflicting views on whether it is safe to travel abroad and whether we should be opening up for visitors to be able to come to Ireland. One has only to listen to what was said on radio yesterday to hear that. Are we doing enough on the safety message? Are we doing enough to encourage people to stay at home and help our tourism sector? I do not feel that the advertising campaign has been big, broad and quick enough. It has been reactive. We knew what the roadmap was and we should have been a little more proactive in planning for that. The call for people to stay at home needs to be stronger. It should be almost a call of national solidarity and action for people to stay at home and support the tourism and arts sectors in as safe a manner as possible.

Nobody is going to lose out by not going abroad this year. We need to be strong in that messaging, but are we doing enough on that issue?