Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yes, I am sharing with Deputies Carol Nolan, Michael Healy-Rae, Michael Collins and Danny Healy-Rae.

The Bill is putting the pandemic unemployment payment on a statutory footing. It also states the recipient must be genuinely seeking employment.

8 o’clock

In general circumstances I would agree with that but I have a problem with this requirement when I consider the music and entertainment industry, people over 66 years of age, the people who own private buses and those who have bread vans, delivery trucks or vehicles they operate themselves. They cannot get the payment. They were just shut down by this pandemic. I have major questions about the pandemic, the way it has been handled and how it originated. There is a cohort of entertainment people. I love Gaeilge. Tá meas agam ar an nGaeilge, an ceol, an craic, an chaint agus an rince. Fuair Big Tom bás. He was from the Minister's county. What an entertainer he was. Every entertainer from the small boyeen with the fiddle playing in a fleadh cheoil to the small little groups and all the fleadhanna are the people who give solace and entertainment to people throughout the country gach seachtain and gach lá. It has all stopped. They did not stop it. It was pulled from under their legs by the Government when it announced what had to happen. We all supported that at the time, but it is time to re-examine it and allow these people to live.

Some of the people in the entertainment industry are desperate. Are we suggesting that the Irish artists leave their profession and look for work elsewhere, such as sweeping the streets or looking for a place on a community employment scheme? These people have made large investments. First, they educated and trained themselves in their profession. They have invested a large amount in equipment and in vans to travel the roads. It is modern equipment. It is not only the people who are playing and performing but also the people backstage such as sound professionals and the entire entourage. Think of the entertainment they give, such as "Four Roads to Glenamaddy" and the like. As I said, the Lord have mercy on Big Tom. There are hundreds of entertainers across rural Ireland and they are penniless. They are proud people. All they want to do is get up on a stage such as the one at this venue, if we were not here, and to have it full so they can entertain and bring joy and a little solace to people who have been downtrodden by what has happened.

We must do something special for them and for the people over 66 years of age. The stimulus package is no good to these people. They cannot get loans. The banks are already pulling loans from them. Many have loans for vans and equipment, but nothing had started this year. It is very unfair to judge on the basis of 2020 because their season would not have started until around St. Patrick's Day. Níl mé sásta. Táim ag lorg cabhair do na daoine sin. They must be helped. They are part of our culture, heritage and our very being. They entertain. Whether it is the Brú Ború, which the Ceann Comhairle attended once and which has wonderful Irish actors under the stewardship of Labhrás and Úna Ó Murchú, or the Siamsa Tíre or bands such as those of Trudi Lalor, Louise Morrissey, Fran Curry and Muriel O'Connor - I could name them all night - people love them. In fairness, some of them played drive-by concerts during the pandemic.

Now their backs are to the wall and they are being wiped off the earth. That is not how it should be. They are self-employed and are not looking for anything. They have paid their taxes and their insurance. Above all, they give entertainment and value for money. They reach into people's homes through the local radio stations and their records, and people love them. It is part of our culture, dúchas and heritage. They must be supported. Ní neart go cur le chéile. I appeal to the new Minister. If Donie Cassidy was here he would have her in a corner somewhere to talk to her and fight for the rights of these people. They need to be supported. They want to provide entertainment and their penny ha'penny worth to everybody else to enjoy.

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