Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that it did not take a pandemic for me to appreciate the arts. I am looking around the Chamber and there are many Deputies here who grew up surrounded and enriched by the arts. I do not think I am alone in that. I am looking at Deputy Boyd Barrett and it certainly did not take a pandemic for him to appreciate the arts either. I am in a position where I can make a difference. That is why I am delighted to have been able to secure this commitment.

With regard to the three-year pilot, this duration was specified in the number one recommendation of the stakeholders' group. I can go through the detail. It is on page 42 of the arts and culture recovery task force's report. I am taking guidance from, and being steered by, the sector itself. We will tease that out in our engagement with the sector, especially in the world café-style engagement to be held in December. That is where that detail came from.

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