Josepha Madigan (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Donnelly might already be aware of the roadmap which we put forward for the sector. We are guided by NPHET advice and the Cabinet has to make the decisions in that regard. Once we have Cabinet agreement on it, we hope the first phase will commence on Monday.

The other phases will come through thereafter. The Deputy will be aware that we hope museums and galleries will reopen on 20 July but theatres will not open until 10 August. With regard to cultural spaces, it is ultimately not just about audiences viewing performances in these spaces but also is about the staff working in them. The back-to-work protocols published by the Ministers, Deputy Humphreys and Regina Doherty, will obviously have to be taken into account with regard to social distancing. It will pose a real challenge for theatres in particular, when they open in the last phase, to ensure social distancing. There will be many requirements in respect of hand sanitisation, hand washing and the possible use of face coverings. It will be up to centres such as Draíocht in Blanchardstown, which the Deputy mentioned, to meet these. It is an extremely popular centre and amazing work is done there. We really do not want to see places like that going under. We have to try to support them. We are working with these smaller and regional centres to ensure they will get up and running in the future.

At this stage, we are working with everybody and are constantly engaging and consulting with the Arts Council, the national cultural institutions, all of the regional centres and all of the Dublin centres to try to ensure that things can get back up and running. It is challenging. It has been pointed out by many Deputies today that this particular sector will be hit quite badly. That is why, from the very outset, we have put supports in place and front-loaded a lot of funding, mainly through the Arts Council, which was given €80 million this year. It was able to front-load much of the money it had to give to arts organisations which are, in turn, giving the money to the artists to support them. The artists themselves can obviously avail of all the normal social welfare supports. The Covid-19 payment the Deputy's colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, mentioned is the main form of assistance. We are very conscious of the points the Deputy raised and we will be doing our utmost to address them.

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