Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Let us make a comparison. The Minister might not give me the exact figures that she is recommending in the negotiations but in New Zealand, the package for arts, music and live entertainment is €175 million. This dwarfs what is being given to, let us remember, a live music and events sector that has never received a cent from Government, and never asked for it, and an arts sector which is one of the most poorly funded in western Europe. We have taken our arts workers, musicians, crew and live entertainment people for granted. We now realise, or should realise, how badly we need these people and how much they contribute to our mental well-being, our welfare and our future in these grim times. The additional money that has been put forward is really a pittance when divided among the 35,000 people who work in music, live entertainment, the arts and so on. It is not enough. We need much more.

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