Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy Martin, and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, for their very helpful input and the extensive support they have offered to their respective sectors. That support is built on very important engagement with people in those sectors. As a musician and somebody who has a lot of friends in the world of music, I am also engaging actively, almost daily, with many friends in arts and culture, particularly those involved in the Music and Entertainment Association of Ireland.

I am concerned there is a particular cohort of people who, I argue, could end up in limbo because, despite the best intentions of everybody, including the Minister and the departmental officials, the supports put in place by the Department and other Departments may not trickle down to those particular practitioners. I am speaking about those mentioned by Deputy McGrath and others who are session musicians, lighting technicians and sound technicians operating in a very precarious situation, as they have done for many years outside of Covid. They make a living from Ireland's entertainment industry. They feed their families and pay their mortgages through work in the entertainment sector.

I am deeply concerned that other than the pandemic unemployment payment, which is applicable to people in many sectors, many of the supports we are putting in place as they are currently framed cannot reach people in this unique sector. I refer in particular to the Covid restrictions support scheme, CRSS. It is beyond the remit of the Department but I would be very grateful if the Minister would interact with the Ministers for Finance and Business, Enterprise and Employment to reshape the CRSS so it does not apply solely to people who operate out of premises. This is absolutely crucial. There are many independent people in the entertainment industry, be they performers or technicians, who do not have a premises but are still incurring significant ongoing costs associated with their businesses. The idea of the CRSS is that we support these businesses through these most challenging of times. I agree with the Minister wholeheartedly that these will be the last people to recover from the Covid shutdown. We have supported those in our hospitality sector with premises. We have supported our theatres, pubs and performance venues. Equally, we need to support, through the CRSS, the performers and technicians who make the show happen week in week out. They are equally important, if not integral, parts of the sector but they do not have access to the CRSS.

At this point, it is a fait accomplifor level 5 but as we will return very shortly down through the various levels, from level 4 onwards, I hope those involved in music tuition can see their music tuition and practice reinstated. The Minister quite rightly pointed out that our culture, music and art are central to the well-being of our people.

I would argue it is particularly central to the well-being of our children. We have, quite rightly, conceded at level 5 that children need to retain access to participation in sport in pods of up to 15. I had one Last Friday night, a woman rang me to say her 15-year-old son had been told he could no longer attend his guitar lessons, which are very important to him, yet on Saturday morning he could head down to his local rugby club and jump around in the mud with 14 other young people for a long period. He cannot, however, have access to that one-to-one music tuition. There is also an issue with an inequity beginning to creep into the music tuition sector, whereby those who are involved in tuition under the auspices of the education and training boards, ETBs, seem to be continuing to provide that tuition, which I am glad is the case, but others who are outside the ETB sector are denied that opportunity. If we want to support musicians for whom music tuition is a critically important part of their income and if we want to support young people for whom musical tuition is a particularly important part of their well-being, I ask that we find some way of including music tuition within the guidelines, from level 4 downwards.

I want to make the case that has been made by many others that we need to look to support local radio and those involved in local radio and local broadcasting. As I said, I am delighted to see Ms Siobhan Holliman appointed to the Future of Media Commission. Ms Holliman has extensive knowledge of both local radio and local print media. It is an excellent appointment. From my experience of listening to and interacting with my local radio station, Galway Bay FM, the station, like many others, is going through the most difficult time in its long 30-year history. Local radio stations' advertising revenues have plummeted and they urgently need support to continue to survive through this pandemic and emerge relatively unscathed at the end. What they are specifically asking for is that additional sound and vision funding be provided up to February 2021, immediate suspension of the Broadcast Authority of Ireland, BAI, levy, and that those whose advertising turnover has fallen by 20% or more become eligible for the employment wage support scheme, EWSS. Our local radio stations have provided critically important support for individuals, households and communities. They have served to build the kind of solidarity we have seen built across Ireland, particularly in rural areas, in facing up to and supporting one another during this pandemic. It is critically important to have them operating successfully in the future.