Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too welcome both Ministers and wish them well with their briefs.

We, in Tipperary, have a radio station, Tipp FM, that is second to none. We also have a community radio station, Tipp Mid West. Those stations are being squeezed to death and need support. They also require a favourable wage support system, which would help SMEs such as those radio stations that employ a lot of people, including top class journalists, researchers and reporters and other ancillary staff. They are looking for the lowering of the EWSS to 20% as a matter of urgency. They need this. I am glad that the Minister will meet them on 16 November but they have been looking for this since July. They cannot hold on. They are an integral part of life in Tipperary and all over the country. I know the stations that people listen to in Monaghan because my wife is from the county. They provide a service from the cradle to the grave through birth and death announcements. Those local stations can bring messaging to homes better than RTÉ or any of the others.

Those stations are also requesting that the reimposed BAI levy be suspended. Why was it reimposed as part of the draconian measures we have at the moment? The sector is also calling for the reintroduction of the BAI sound and vision scheme to support Covid-19-related programming. The people at those stations can reach out for the Government. I am making a plea here. The meeting with the stations' representatives cannot come soon enough but it needs to be productive and things need to change.

The Minister mentioned that €8 million has been given to the national orchestra and the National Concert Hall. I am not against that but that money would go some distance to helping local musicians such as the ordinary man in the van who cannot get access to any of the schemes because he does not have a rated premises, only his van. Sound and lighting engineers are also affected, as has been mentioned. They are being left behind. Who is drawing up the guidelines? They are ridiculous. I was shocked that the Minister of State said that game shooting is not regulated at all and that the decision to restrict it came from the Garda Síochána. It is daft.

There can be 25 people at a wedding with no music. I do not know how many in this room are married but I am married a long time; I do not know about the Chairperson. A wedding without music or a tune is not a wedding at all. The first dance needs a bit of music. It is not a wedding without music. What harm would be caused by two musicians in a band playing their fabulous tunes? The Minister said that we hope to be in recovery mode but there will be nothing to recover. These people have mortgages and repayments on their equipment. Their mental health and well-being is suffering. They love to entertain and give solace to people and it is sad that they cannot do that. The effects that these issues have on radio stations and musicians are important.

I will ask the Minister about game shooting. Restrictions were announced last Thursday evening, the day before 1 November. People had their guns oiled and dogs trained, ready to go out on their own. Thirty people are allowed to play games in fields. These game shooters were going to be in ditches and fields on their own. The Minister has told me that there are no regulations and that the Minister for Justice and the Garda Síochána made the decision about game shooting. This is scandalous, shocking and should not be the case. Rural Ireland has already lost coursing. There are industries around these things and the people involved spend a lot of their own money on their dogs and guns, etc.

The Minister referred to the recovery but will the people affected be there to recover? That is the problem. The Government is biding its time but the pandemic has been going on for eight months and it beggars belief that things such as the BAI licence are being allowed to slip back in again. The demands of the BAI are punitive at the best of times. Local radio stations get little support compared to RTÉ and others.

Five county camogie teams have been stopped from playing. The Minister of State mentioned equality between the different sexes in sport. Five camogie teams have been summarily dismissed from the championship. That is unfair on those young ladies and their families. Those ladies have trained hard all year in the hope of getting back. They can see the men's championship going ahead. It was crazy to let people out like that. There are inconsistencies in the regulations and that is why the people are finding it hard. I got a report today from a friend of my daughter's whose friend went to Turkey for a funeral with their family and the plane was full of Irish people going on holidays. The Government has never dealt with the issue about the airports. I was not aware that this kind of tourism was going out. How are those people going to get back into the country? Will they have to quarantine? The Government has lost the plot and the regulations are riddled with inconsistencies.

It is extremely punitive that Ireland is one of four countries in the world, now that Wales has joined us, to have stopped worship. I know that the bishops met the Taoiseach but it did not do much good.

It is crazy, considering the size of churches. Someone mentioned the concert hall in Wexford which is a big building, and of course it is. Churches, by their nature, are quite big and airy. Surely people of every faith will be allowed to return to worship. They need it more than ever in these dark days. Their faith is very important to them. I ask the Minister to answer as many of those questions as she can.