Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin. We are all looking forward to seeing our museums and galleries opening next week, but I am hoping that it will not be too long before we see our other centres of culture, such as music, drama and entertainment venues, throughout the country opening as well. The pandemic has made us realise, far more than we ever did before, how important music, the arts, drama and entertainment are to our lives. During this period, there have been many wonderful online initiatives by the artistic and musical communities. The Minister of State might agree, however, that nothing beats a live performance. Unfortunately, we have not seen too many of those.

There were periods last summer where we were lucky enough to see live performances. I was lucky to see the first outdoor live play by the Coolgreany drama group last summer. St. Michael's Theatre in New Ross also moved many of its performances outdoors. During the period of the most intense recent lockdown when the Garda performed "Jerusalema", which brought a smile to all our faces, communities all around the country also did their own versions. This shows the importance of live performance. Last summer we also saw controlled indoor performances. I am involved with the Gorey Little Theatre. It operated in a controlled environment, with limited numbers coming in. It was very safe and patrons felt safe. This was replicated in other areas such as the Wexford Arts Centre and right around the country. There was no evidence, where is was safely operated, that this contributed in any way to the spread of Covid, and the arts community has been playing its part in the fight against it.The Minister of State will know that the Minister launched pilots at the Abbey Theatre and the National Concert Hall in December. My understanding is that those pilots went well and we learned from them. Many theatres and live events were reopened in Israel following its vaccination programme. Again, the evidence is that this has been done successfully. People may be aware of a very successful large-scale outdoor event in Barcelona where up to 5,000 people attended a rock concert, but with the requirement that testing take place beforehand. The arts community is happy to look at engaging with this.

I am looking for some sort of vision from the Government to be set out for our theatres, music and arts venues so they are able to open safely. What kinds of measures will all these venues need to put in place when they open to ensure it can be done safely and with the confidence of those attending? Can the Minister of State give a general timeframe? Will we see larger outdoor events over the summer? We have heard talk that we will see some of this happening in sport; will we also see it in arts and music? It will probably be a while before we see big on-stage indoor performances, but what about small performances? Can we give some assurances to the likes of the New Ross Piano Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Wexford Festival Opera and Cork Jazz Festival about what they look like when we come to the autumn? It is important to set out that kind of vision.

Everybody realises that this will not be a very rapid reopening. The arts community has played its part in keeping us entertained and informed over this period. There is now an obligation on the Government to set out a very clear vision as to how we can reopen our theatres and arts venues.