Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste as ucht an cuireadh teacht anseo inniu. Táim thar a bheith sásta a bheith anseo chun labhairt faoi tosaíochtaí straitéiseacha na Roinne agus ár bhfreagra ar an bpaindéim Covid. I intend to address the committee on matters relating to tourism, culture, arts and media while my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, will address matters related to sport and the Gaeltacht.

The sectors under the aegis of my Department are among the most severely impacted by the global pandemic and associated public health measures. Unfortunately, as the pandemic continues, we are likely to continue to experience these significant and negative impacts.

As such, I am very pleased to have this opportunity to address the committee on the important challenges facing our sectors and to open a dialogue on the strategic priorities for the Department as we turn our faces to the future and to recovery.

Tourism, culture, arts, our language, sport and media are integral parts of the fabric of our society and our democracy, supporting a wide range of economic activity as well enhancing our physical, mental and societal well-being. Central to the operation of these sectors is the coming together of people, whether to enjoy a cultural event, watch a match or enjoy a meal or night out. The combined portfolio of tourism, culture, the arts, the Gaeltacht, sport and media speaks to who we are as a nation and how we identify ourselves.

The Covid-19 crisis has challenged all of our core presumptions and values and made us reflect critically on the importance of these sectors to our nation. It is no longer possible for us to come together for a cultural, sporting or social event. The flow of visitors we normally welcome from Europe, the US and beyond is not with us. More than ever, we require high-quality, informed and trusted sources of news and content. Our focus has been on the collective effort to protect the vulnerable in our society, on keeping our health and social care services operating and on preventing further disruption to childcare and education. All of this also reflects who we are as a people, a society which cares about its most vulnerable, and we should never lose sight of this. It has come at an enormous cost for the sectors for which I and the Minister of State have responsibility.

I will take a moment to set out the impacts of the pandemic. There has been a collapse in international tourism which the OECD estimates will be to the order of 80%. We have experienced the loss of all overseas tourism since March. The impact of social distancing measures and the limits on gatherings required to protect public health have also significantly diminished the domestic tourism and hospitality sectors. Fáilte Ireland estimates that some 40% of tourism businesses have not reopened since the first lockdown in 2020.

Cultural venues and events were among the first to be closed in our response to the pandemic and will undoubtedly be among the last to reopen. This continues to have a devastating impact on performance opportunities, displays, festivals and concerts, impacting on our opportunities to experience culture and performance as well as employment and economic activity in the sector. The impact of the pandemic on the arts sector extends well beyond artists. It has also affected crews and the wide range of people it takes to put on live performances in venues and at festivals.

Sport, which is central to the lives of many people in Ireland, has been similarly impacted with restrictions on spectators, and curtailed activity generally, severely impacting on revenues. The commercial sports and leisure sector has also seen its activity cease as we moved to level 5 of the Government’s plan for living with Covid-19.

Across the Gaeltacht, businesses and communities alike have suffered a significant reduction in economic activity, tourism and educational visitors as a consequence of Covid-19. Many are now facing the double impact of Brexit. I am very conscious that this will pose a further risk for the language as it may result in more native speakers leaving our Gaeltacht regions.

The media sector, which has played such a critical role in supporting and disseminating public messaging about the Covid-19 response, has been especially hard hit by reduced advertising revenues. It is ironic that this has come at a time when there has never been a greater need for trusted news sources.

Over recent months, I have been working with Government colleagues to ensure that we are addressing the crisis in our sectors head on and sustaining, protecting and enhancing resilience where we can. Across government, we continue to invest heavily in protecting incomes through the pandemic unemployment payment, in protecting livelihoods through the employment wage subsidy scheme and, most recently in the budget, in protecting businesses through the Covid restrictions support scheme. Given the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on our sectors, these universal supports continue to form a critical part of our response. The VAT cut, the tax debt warehousing extension and the rates waiver are also essential in helping sustain businesses across our sectors.

Engaging with our sectoral stakeholders has been an essential part of our response to the pandemic and it is critical that we, as policymakers, listen closely to the voices and experiences of artists, cultural workers, tourism businesses, sporting bodies, the media and our Gaeltacht communities.

Task forces made up of sectoral experts have been set up to direct our responses and set us on the path of recovery for the tourism and arts and culture sectors. Informed by these engagements, I have introduced a range of sector-specific measures. While it is not possible to go through them all in detail in this opening statement, I will highlight a number of very significant support measures.

The Arts Council has seen its funding allocation increase by €25 million over its initial budget allocation in 2020 and has been allocated a total funding provision of €130 million under budget 2021. This additional investment empowers the Arts Council to help artists, arts workers and arts organisations get through the crisis and ensures that they will still be there to play their part in the national recovery. This funding will help protect jobs and livelihoods, while also supporting thousands of artists in creating new work during and after the pandemic. It will focus on enhancing the resilience of the sector, while also looking to find new ways of reaching audiences in person and online.

Live entertainment has also been significantly impacted by the pandemic, as attendance at concerts, festivals and events is either severely curtailed or no longer permitted under the five levels. To that end, I am providing €50 million in funding to support live entertainment in 2021, which will include significant support measures for the commercial entertainment sector. A key pillar of this support package is the extension of the pilot live performance support scheme from the 2020 July stimulus, which will incentivise venues, producers and promoters of live performances to plan new productions and to employ workers in the cultural and creative sectors. Earlier this week, I announced the outcome of the pilot which aims to see up to 58 performances being staged over the coming months, providing much-needed work for artists, entertainers and those who work in the sector.

We are also working with our national cultural Institutions and cultural spaces across the country to ensure they can operate safely under the Government's plan for living with Covid-19. These spaces and their collections are vital for the well-being of our communities. The work of curators and cultural practitioners in bringing them to life online over the pandemic has been truly exceptional.

For tourism, my immediate focus is on helping the sector to survive the Covid crisis and the recovery plan produced by the tourism recovery task force is a valuable contribution to my thinking in this context. In response to the recommendations, I strongly advocated for additional supports as part of budget 2021 and was pleased to support the Government's announcement of a new €55 million support fund for strategic tourism businesses and €5 million for training and digitalisation support in the sector. These measures will complement the EWSS and CRSS and the restart scheme. The Government has also responded to the call from the industry and reduced the VAT rate in the sector to 9%, which will enhance viability and competitiveness. While it may take a while for the benefits of the VAT cut and the stay-and-spend tax credit to be felt, they will be important supports when we open up again. All of the budgetary measures will build on the €26 million adaptation grant for the tourism sector and the €10 million supports for international coach tourism announced in July.

Throughout the crisis, my Department has worked with the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, and media stakeholders to assess the impact of the crisis on the sector. To mitigate some of the worst effects, the BAI agreed to waive its broadcasting levy for the first half of the year for the independent radio sector and I have secured additional funding to offset this. More significantly, and in recognition of the importance of the public, commercial and community media in disseminating public health messages, additional funding has been provided for the sound and vision scheme, with an additional round valued at €2.5 million for commercial radio, a €750,000 round, and the current round that will distribute €4.5 million to the audiovisual sector, boosted by an additional €2 million in Exchequer funding under the July stimulus package.

Well-being is a core principle underpinning the living with Covid-19 plan, and it will be fundamental to public confidence and resilience as we emerge from and manage the crisis over the longer term. Well-being is also at the heart of our programme for Government and is a central pillar to my Department's policies, with the arts and culture, sport, the Irish language, the media and tourism all contributing to our national and individual well-being. From that perspective, I consider it vital that we lift our heads and proactively plan for recovery, a recovery which will come and for which I want these sectors to be in the best position they can be to resume activity.

For tourism, my overall objective is to facilitate recovery and future growth that is sustainable from an environmental, social and economic perspective. Central to this will be a three-year survival, stabilisation and recovery programme based on the recommendations of the tourism recovery task force.

Additionally, I intend to initiate the development of an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable tourism policy that will further set our direction over the coming years. We will continue to develop our national tourism product, including through strategic investments under the national development plan and for activity-based tourism, being conscious of the ancillary economic benefits from such investments in often isolated locations.

The arts and culture task force has also set the direction for recovery in that broad sector. The task force has completed its deliberations and I intend to bring its final report to the attention of Government at the earliest opportunity. I will work closely with sectoral stakeholders and colleagues in government on the implementation of its recommendations.

There are strong links between commercial and State-supported cultural activity with artists and other cultural workers often moving between both during their careers. As such, ensuring we continue to support our cultural workers ensures a vibrant commercial sector in the future. The Arts Council, which, as I mentioned earlier, has received significant additional funding for 2021, will also play a central role in ensuring that artists and arts workers will get through the crisis, will continue to create and will be in a position to return to live performance when we are again able to gather together.

An allocation of €8 million has also been made to the National Concert Hall, NCH, for 2021 to allow for the transfer of the National Symphony Orchestra from RTÉ. This will be a significant step towards the objective of enabling it to be established as a world-class orchestra which will, with the NCH, provide a creative and imaginative programme strategy that will greatly enhance the offering of the combined organisation to the public.

Our work with the live entertainment sector is also turning towards the future, and I intend to support the development of guidance for venues in how to manage the return to live performances as well as the bespoke funding scheme announced in budget 2021. The work of the night-time economy task force, due to report at the end of the year, will create a renewed vision for night-time culture, informed by the experience of the crisis but also providing a long-term perspective on what our cities and towns should offer their citizens and visitors in terms of cultural and entertainment options.

Creativity and resilience often go hand in hand and, under the Creative Ireland programme, my Department has invested significant additional funding of €3.9 million to support artistic and creative operators to produce creative content and deliver creative initiatives. More broadly, new funding has also been directed towards the creative sector in support of public resilience and well-being initiatives. For example, the rapid roll-out of the creativity in older age scheme in July has seen the deployment by national organisations and local authorities of a series of projects worth more than €500,000 by creative practitioners, supporting older people in community and healthcare settings nationwide.

The Creative Ireland programme is also currently working closely to support Healthy Ireland on the Government’s recently launched community resilience campaign, Keep Well. This will see significant additional funding provided by Government to local authorities to support creative operators in delivering a range of initiatives to support individual and community creativity in the arts, culture and heritage.

My Department is also working to enhance resilience and support the creative industries, including the audiovisual sector. We will continue to implement the audiovisual action plan over the coming years, as well as supporting Screen Ireland and its subsidiary, Screen Skills Ireland, to build and support a world-class industry in Ireland.

In terms of media, I was pleased to provide additional funding to TG4 in 2020 and 2021, as well as providing additional funding of €2 million for the sound and vision scheme in 2020. These initiatives are helping to build quality output for TV audiences in Ireland and beyond, as well as critically supporting the independent production sector. As I mentioned earlier, we were also in a position to support the broader media sector through various BAI measures, including the initial waiver on the broadcasting levy for the independent radio sector.

While addressing the immediate needs of the sector, there is important work to be done on addressing the future of media in this country. The Future of Media Commission has been established and held its inaugural meeting last week. This commission will, through engagement with key stakeholders, help inform future media policy. I will also be actively engaged in ensuring the safe passage of the online safety and media regulation Bill through the Houses of the Oireachtas over the coming months.

As Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, I am firmly committed to supporting these sectors as they navigate through the unique and difficult challenges the Covid-19 crisis presents. I will continue to do everything possible to ensure they remain viable through the crisis and resilient in recovery and to seek out new opportunities and a longer-term vision so that they can thrive once again when this crisis passes.

I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, to speak to the Irish language and sport.