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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10 to 14, inclusive, together.

Matters relating to arts, culture and equality are dealt with by the Cabinet committee on social affairs and equality. This Cabinet committee last met on 30 November and will meet again shortly. I have regular engagement with Ministers, at Cabinet and individually, to discuss priority issues relating to their Departments.

In addition, a number of meetings have been held between my officials and officials from relevant Departments since the establishment of the Cabinet committee in July 2020. The impacts of the pandemic across all areas, in particular arts and culture, have been considered by the Cabinet committee on Covid-19 and as the successful vaccination programme allows us to progressively reopen the economy, the economic recovery plan will set out how we will support the full resumption of economic activity and get people back to work. In particular, we will be looking at the arts and cultural sector, which has been a consistent part of the agenda of both the Covid-19 sub-committee and the economic recovery sub-committee of the Cabinet. We have worked on what types of specific supports we can provide to the arts and cultural and entertainment sectors and how we can facilitate their return now as society opens.

The Cabinet economic recovery plan and the Cabinet sub-committee will obviously deal with broader labour market and enterprise supports. We have been clear there will be no cliff edge. As I said, in terms of live events and arts and culture, we will also continue to support those sectors in addition to investing in infrastructure and reforms to enhance our long-term capabilities. In making those considerations, sectors such as live events and arts and culture, which are reliant on mass gatherings, will be given strong consideration.

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