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

There are several hundred musicians and performers outside the Dáil as we speak who have come here to protest about the abysmal failure of the Government to engage with them about a roadmap back to work, clarity as to when they can get back to work and their concern about the plans to essentially make them jobseekers. As I previously told the Taoiseach, the cliff edge for them is a reduction of their pandemic unemployment payments when, as a result of Government measures around public health, they have not been able to work, they have no idea when they will be able to get back to work and potentially they will be forced to identify as jobseekers. Despite some funding being provided to this sector, these people, the vast majority of them ordinary jobbing musicians and performers, have got nothing in terms of support.

Well-being was mentioned. There is nothing that has assisted, and generally assists, our well-being more than music, performance and entertainment yet these areas have got nothing. What does the Government propose to do for the musicians and performers that will not force them over a cliff edge but will give them clarity as to when they can return to work and some financial support or compensation for the suffering they have endured for the last year and a half?

See this speech in context