Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Senator is aware, the Government announced last week that the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media will work with the Departments of Health and the Taoiseach to progress arrangements to hold a further limited number of pilot live events for sport and live entertainment, both indoor and outdoor. In the meantime, the Department will work with sporting and cultural bodies and will make practical preparations for these test events. The Senator is completely correct that the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, recently established a live entertainment working group in order to facilitate stakeholder consultation. This group will produce a high level set of guidance that all venue promoters can adopt for their specific purposes. It is hoped to begin hosting these events in July, depending on the situation at the time and subject to the roll-out of the vaccination programme. Effectively, all options for the safe holding of these events are currently being considered and I thank the Senator for his interest in this subject and for his advice.