Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I commit to doing that and I know my Government colleagues will give their full attention to this. I will give one message of possibility. We have had real difficulty in recent times with increasing numbers but in the establishment of the five-level framework, there was a clear understanding that even within level 2, we needed to start allowing audiences to come back in a safe and organised way, depending on the size of the venue or how controlled it could be. For large areas of the country, where we hope there will not be an increased level of virus transmission, there will be the possibility of starting to organise some events.

This will have to be done under public health guidelines but the design of the levels, from my experience of the discussion on them, looked to try to give the capability of some events to return or performances to take place in a controlled environment with the proper social distancing. I have been to certain events in theatres or elsewhere and people are doing this. This industry is creative and highly capable, and it is keen to get back to work. We should start doing that. We should use the levels and, I hope, work collectively to get to lower levels of virus transmission.

We are not at a point where no events can take place but the events must take place in a safe environment. The industry can and should work with that aim in mind.

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