Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank everybody for their presentations. I was struck, when my colleague, Senator Cassells, started talking about the vibrant nightlife in Navan, by how fortunate I am to be from Gorey, where we have a great night-time economy. It is exactly as the Senator said: it is only when we lose it and do not see it that we appreciate how much we have missed.

Many of the issues have been touched on, but one point, on which some of the witnesses might respond, is that when we recover from all this we will have to look at brand Ireland. We really appreciate how important our cultural identity is, and I think our nightlife and music will play a big part in that. What should we be doing to build that brand? We talked about the licensing laws. How can we be seen as the global venue for the night-time economy? Do the witnesses have specific thoughts on that? I am conscious that the skills shortage issue was mentioned. Are there specific areas in our education and training systems where we need to address the skills shortages and look at specific programmes as to where the industry is developing?

I have a very specific question for Mr. Finn. I agree with him on the copyright directive. As to how musicians and artists can generate income, has he given much thought to the growth area of non-fungible tokens, NFTs, and does he feel that will be a way for musicians and artists to generate more income?

I was struck by what Mr. Sharpe said about learning from experiences and we will make mistakes and so on. Given the outdoor and indoor events that have taken place in Barcelona and Israel, what are the lessons from those for us?