Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this question on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin. In its decision of 19 October 2021, the Government agreed that the remaining areas of the hospitality, entertainment and night-time economy would reopen with the full range of protective measures in place and the wide and robust implementation of the Covid-19 pass. This represents an important next step towards the full reopening of our economy and society. As we move forward, however, it is more critical than ever to ensure that we are doing everything we can to minimise opportunities for the transmission of the virus.

The night-time and live entertainment sectors have been particularly hard hit during this pandemic. The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, and her officials have been engaging with the various sectors to address some of the challenges faced during the past 20 months, in the run-up to the Government decision and also following it. The extensive stakeholder engagement has resulted in the production of an updated set of guidelines entitled, Updated Guidelines for Nightlife and Entertainment, to provide for the safe operation of the sector as Covid-19 is still circulating in our communities. Tourism and hospitality sectoral guidelines, aligned with the Work Safely protocol, have also been developed collaboratively to assist businesses to apply the guidance to their operations. The guidelines are informed by the latest Government public health advice and regulations carefully tailored to specific tourism and hospitality sectors. The operational guidelines aim to support business owners and management every step of the way as they work to stabilise and recover.The guidance, which is updated regularly, contains a range of advice on areas including ventilation, hygiene, management structures and face coverings. As we are still in the middle of a pandemic, and in light of the epidemiological situation which has emerged over recent weeks, it is imperative that we carefully manage reopening. There will inevitably be nuances and differences in how we do things.

The Department of the Taoiseach hosted a meeting today with the hospitality and live events sector. That was attended by officials from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Health. It has been emphasised in advance of that meeting and continuously that their co-operation is critical if we are to avoid a further deterioration in the epidemiological situation. This was emphasised strongly again today, and it is clear that the sectors' representative groups are very conscious of their role in driving compliance and reinforcing the behaviours that will help to keep us all safe. Today's meeting provides a very important context for the three-week review that was signalled at the outset, and we will continue to engage with the sector bilaterally after the meeting as part of that review process. The review will, of course, be critically informed by the wider public health situation. In addition, official engagements will take place this week with the live entertainment sector. Subsequent to that, an update will be provided for consideration by Cabinet colleagues.

The Government's aim has been to allow as many businesses as possible to reopen in the safest possible way. This is why we need certain regulations in place as well as robust guidance to assist businesses to reopen safely and, importantly, to stay open. Central to these guidelines is a commitment to adhere to best practice in infection prevention control measures, which are necessary to protect individuals and society, and to support our continued progress towards a full return to operation of various sectors. Compliance with these measures should not be considered best practice but rather the minimum standard required to protect our communities. Individual businesses need to risk-assess proactively their premises to calibrate mitigating measures in a bespoke way for their business.

We know that countries across the world are working through the challenges of reopening society while the pandemic continues. These countries are all different and the way they develop their reopening plans will be different from ours. We have to try to balance a welcome reopening of businesses with the protection of public health.

I have run out of time. The rest of the reply is in the written statement circulated in the Chamber.