Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be as brief as possible and try to leave time for the Minister and Minister of State to respond. I wish both of them the best of luck in their new briefs. In regard to the Minister, I am encouraged by her approach and commentary thus far in respect of the arts, culture and tourism, which is now part of her brief. I genuinely wish her the best of luck and I look forward to working with her and to welcoming her to west Cork to show her the incredible tourism offering there. I know the Minister of State a bit better than I know the Minister, and I am aware of his passion for the Gaeltacht and the islands. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic job.

I welcome the announcement of the additional funding in the Revised Estimate, which seems targeted. All of the additional funding for the different events mentioned by the Minister will be for nothing if we do not protect our events sector and workers. As the Minister rightly stated, the sector has never faced a crisis like this so we need to support it by means of the funding to which I refer and the July stimulus. We have all referenced the impact on tourism, hospitality and aviation but it could be argued that the events and arts sector is potentially most affected because of its reliance on mass gatherings. We do not know when mass gatherings will be permitted again. I have spoken to events workers and sound engineers who do not expect to have an income until April 2021. Judging by some of the commentary in the Chamber in recent days, Covid may be with us for a couple of years and so it may be some time before mass gatherings will be permitted again. We need to protect and support the sector in question and its workers.

The events sector is a thriving industry. I know from a conversation I had 25 years ago with an events worker who had oversight of the festival that was then known as Oxegen, and previously known as Witnness, that British event companies rigged and set up events here. These days, that work is being done by Irish companies and, as I said, we now have a thriving events industry and skilled crew. We need to protect the sector and ensure that it will exist when we emerge from Covid. Funding for all of the cultural events mentioned by the Minister will be nothing unless we protect the industry. We cannot allow this talent and skilled labour force to be leaked or lost to other industries. We cannot let that happen. We can protect the sector by listening to some of its demands.

All of us in this Chamber have enjoyed various events, gigs, theatre performances and concerts. I come from west Cork, which I consider to be the rock capital of the world. For the final 20 years of his life, Noel Redding, the bassist with the Jimi Hendrix Experience, lived in west Cork. Eric Bell of Thin Lizzy also lived there. It is home to incredible venues that have hosted world famous names. Venues such as DeBarras in Clonakilty, Connolly's of Leap and Levis' Bar in the small village of Ballydehob are gems. We need to protect them and to ensure that this industry still exists when we emerge from Covid. It is important that we protect not only the venues but the events and the festivals, including the International Guitar Festival in Clonakilty and the Cork Jazz Festival. We all enjoy these events and the music. We need to start appreciating what happens prior to an event, including the sound checks, the rigging and so on. We are sometimes oblivious to what these incredible events workers do. Many of the small events and festivals that take place in west Cork and other parts of rural Ireland depend heavily on sound engineers to set up public address systems and the stages, and they sometimes do this work free of charge or at a reduced rate.

I would like now to mention some of the requests from EPIC, of which I am sure the Minister is aware because EPIC will have communicated them to her. The main request is that the Covid pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and wage subsidy scheme will continue for event workers until such time as mass gatherings are permitted again. That is very important and it should be addressed in the July stimulus package. I acknowledge that this debate is not about the July stimulus. We need business grant support of, potentially, 20%, if possible, above the turnover for 2018. This is essential.

Another issue affecting this sector is insurance coverage, which I would like the Minister to highlight to Cabinet. The risk factor has been reduced dramatically because events are not happening, rigs are not being set up and so on but the insurance companies are not being flexible. This matter needs to be tackled.

There is also a mental health aspect involved, which I know EPIC has also communicated to the Minister. The arts sector, from musicians to event workers, have been supportive of each other to get them through this pandemic. We have all seen the Facebook live performances. DeBarras in Clonakilty has held a Facebook live event for the past four months. It has been a brilliant way to bring these events into our living rooms. The sector needs targeted funding in order to put in place proper and effective mental health programmes.

I welcome the Minister's reference to the possible establishment of an industry task force. I echo the calls for a meeting with stakeholders. There is another issue with the PUP which I would like the Minister to bring to Cabinet. For some reason, random events workers are receiving the lower payment of €203 per week but their 2018 accounts would have reflected a position much healthier than that. This needs to be rectified. The situation of the many seasonal workers who were not employed in January and February and, therefore, do not receive the PUP also needs to be rectified to get these essential workers through the crisis. This sector needs to be provided for in the July stimulus.

I will move on now to the islands, following which I hope there will be time remaining for the Minister and Minister of State to respond. I come from west Cork. As Deputy Michael Collins indicated, we have many vibrant offshore islands. I would like confirmation that island services will not be impacted by the move of responsibility for the islands from its existing Department to the new Department with responsibility for social protection, community and rural development and the islands. We need a guarantee that services will be protected. In the context of the overall approach to the islands, there is an issue with housing. There are many couples who would like to move there and work remotely but they cannot do so because there is no available housing on the islands. Provision needs to be made for housing on our offshore islands. Tied closely to this is the provision of rural broadband so that people can choose to live and work on the islands and thus the islands would be repopulated and lead to a very healthy island economy. One of the local islands off the coast of Cork, Cape Clear Island, recently restarted a market which had not been held for 15 years, which is helping to keep expenditure in the local economy. I would welcome a brief response from the Minister and Minister of State on the issues I have raised.

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