Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To answer Deputy Boyd Barrett's points on the taxi drivers, the pub sector, entertainment and the arts, the PUP covered a lot of those sectors as, indeed, did the wage subsidy scheme, which covered quite a number of pubs. In fact, there was an enormous intervention by the State, which just gets dismissed and ignored and the Deputy uses language such as that people were shafted. A total of 1.1 million people were on State supports at one stage during Covid-19 because it has been an extraordinary and unprecedented pandemic that has negatively impacted on people and jobs. I get it. Of course, it has been devastating for many sectors, particularly the collapse of the travel trade, tourism and people travelling in and out of the country, which has had a huge impact on hospitality and tourism in general and, consequently, on taxi drivers, pubs and the arts and entertainment more generally. I understand this.

With regard to Deputy McDonald's point, prior to this Government coming in, the interim Government provided substantial funding to the arts in response to the campaign by the National Campaign for the Arts at the time. In the July stimulus, provision has been made for the arts in respect of a new drama and TV fund of €3 million and €2 million for a sound and vision fund.

I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, on this and on the need to create employment opportunities for artists in sectors where they may be under-represented, such as in education, for example. We should increase the number of artists in residence in schools or give greater supports to theatre and education companies and create new employment alternatives and performance supports for artists online. All of this will never replace what was there prior to Covid but our objective will be to work with the artistic community to try to create meaningful supports for them. We understand that as a specific group they require a specific response, given the nature of the employment and the fact Covid-19 has dramatically impacted on their way of life, particularly with regard to the audiences on whom many artists depend. We are very aware of this and the various supports, from the employment wage subsidy to the PUP, have made a telling and important impact. They will never replace what was there for many people but at least they have helped people to get through this period.

Other measures include the restart grants, which apply to those paying rates. There are challenges once we go outside this as to how we structure and validate them and how we can give additional supports to those who do not have rateable premises. Other taxation measures may be of assistance to taxi owners and drivers but in some cases they may not. There is a combination of measures which, if we add them all up, can be of assistance.

I am very conscious of the need to work on these specific sectors. More broadly, there will be continued focus on the childcare sector, and on the hospitality and tourism sector in general. With regard to pubs we had to take the decision we took to defer the reopening of phase 4. That will come up for examination in the coming weeks, with regard to 10 August, and we will be guided by public health advice. Last week, I met the publicans' representative bodies in this regard and I am acutely aware of the very difficult situation that many publicans throughout the country-----

See this speech in context