Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. Tá sí chomh gnóthach. Ní fheicim í go minic. I will take the opportunity to thank the Minister. Coming from Clare, the home of music, I can talk about what I have seen first-hand in the sector in Clare. The whole pandemic has, of course, been devastating for the sector. Despite every Cabinet Minister fighting over money, the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, has done well to get a very good deal and to get as much money as she could for the entertainment sector, as well as for sports and arts. I personally have received so many emails and phone calls of thanks to be passed on to the Minister and I have not had the opportunity to do so. These came from venues, hotels, musicians and performing artists. We can always blame the Government but we did not create the Covid virus, although the Minister has been left to deal with the repercussions of it and people are starting to recognise that now. It is terrible that things have to be shut down but health advice has to be taken. The Minister has to follow it and she has to stipulate what needs to be done for the safety of all.

I want to give the Minister a flavour of the situation. This weekend, we have 48 gigs in Clare all funded through the Clare Arts Office, which got the funding from the Minister. I could go on forever. From Loop Head, over to Killaloe, up to Mountshannon and down to Ballyvaughan, there are things happening everywhere – indoors, outdoors and on the streets. We have new outdoor venues that we have never seen before, and they got funding thanks to the Minister.

She is the right woman for the job. I do not know if anybody else could have got so much in such a short time, all things considered and given the challenges. The Clare Arts Office and Clare Tourism actually struggled to spend and to deal with all the money. They got so many supports that they were completely blown away. They had not expected those sectors would receive so much. I have friends who got grants who had never got grants before in their lives. I have musician friends who got money to develop their trade and, for the first time, they had funding and they got paid to be at home, and to write, to create and to develop their craft. For years, they have just been performing. This funding the Minister has given has enabled them to nurture their own trade and to look at other skills, reach out and be more creative.

The Minister has had a very hard time. It is hard for everybody. People are getting so sick of Covid now that it is all about blaming somebody or something. I know several musicians, famous ones as well as very good traditional musicians who nobody knows about, but we have them all in Clare. Not only do we have lots of good musicians who are from Clare, but we have lots of them living in Clare as well. I have to say, with my hand on my heart, that they are deeply grateful for what the Minister has tried to do in a really challenging time. As we have the Minister in the House, I want to take the opportunity chun buíochas a ghabháil léi agus tá a lán daoine an-bhuíoch di. Bhí dúshláin mhóra roimpi. Iarraim uirthi coinneáil leis. The Minister is just getting started. If we did not have a pandemic, God knows what would have happened.

Nobody in the history of the State has ever introduced the basic income that the Minister has introduced and that she is working on. She is going to be talking to over 200 groups of artists. This is what I really like about the Minister. She is listening and engaging with people and with groups. That is how we progress as a Government and as politicians; it is when we listen to people. The pilot scheme will open for applications early in the new year. Almost 200 artists, art workers and representative bodies will be in attendance at the meetings with the Minister. That is why she has been doing so well so far. It is because she has been listening to people, artists and venues. Right from the get-go, a year and a half ago, she was straight out to create spaces outdoors so people could at least have creativity in the outdoors. I hope she gets a couple of days off over Christmas because I know she has not had a break in a year and a half, but everybody needs a break. I hope she gets a small one and I hope her children get to see her. I thank her from the bottom of my heart because those messages are straight from many musicians, performers and hotel owners, who have been ringing me and emailing me to please tell the Minister they are really grateful for what she has been trying to do for them. Go raibh míle maith agat.