Dáil debates

Wednesday, 29 July 2020

Financial Provisions (Covid-19) (No. 2) Bill 2020: Committee and Remaining Stages

 

5:35 pm

Photo of Danny Healy-RaeDanny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too appeal to the Minister and support the calls to help the people who have been the bearers of our culture and whom we will need if we are to hand that culture on to the next generation. I refer to groups such as Siamsa Tíre in Tralee and people like Nicky and Anne McAuliffe, who have taught so many young musicians in Kerry. We cannot afford to lose these kinds of people. We need to see after them. There are also people like Mike Cronin and Mike Doyle who went around the whole Ring of Kerry playing music for a group of cyclists, including Derry Healy and others, which was raising funds for Gene Tangney who spent nine or ten weeks on a life support machine in Tralee hospital with coronavirus. I am talking about people who do great work like that.

I will also mention Neily O'Connor, to whose music one would dance on the table. He plays sets all over Kerry. He is at a standstill. Like everyone else, he needs to put food on the table. So do Derry and Rosie Healy who play and teach music to youngsters.

There is also the matter of event centres such as the INEC, Scott's Hotel in Killarney, the Fáilte Hotel and the Dunloe Hotel. There is no music coming out of their doors now which means there is no work for our artists, including those who play the accordion, fiddle, concert flute and guitar. We need to support them in their hour of need. When people's heads are down and they have a lot of troubles and worries, these are the people who take their minds off the troubles of the day. They come out of these places feeling better and looking forward to the future. They may go in down and out but they come out changed people after a session of listening to these kinds of people.

Our tradition and our culture are very important. We must know where we came from and that the people who come after us will carry on the traditions we give them, including story-telling and other things. We need to maintain those traditions and our identity. It is very important to maintain our identity and our sense of who we were, who we are and who we will be in the future. I ask the Minister to do something for these people. They were hardly mentioned until a few days ago. We need to give them some recognition. The recognition I am talking about is a financial package.

This is needed by people such as the members of Truly Diverse, a band that plays at weddings. They are at a total standstill. They have young children and must put food on the table like everyone else. We need to look after those people. I have left out a lot of people but the Minister will have got the thrust of what I am saying. I appeal to him to do his best for these people.

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