Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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305. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to any work being carried out to provide guidelines for non-food serving pubs and live music venues to help them prepare for a safe reopening. [18645/20]

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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317. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if councils will be supported in hosting outdoor arts events which maintain public health guidelines such as an event (details supplied) which launched recently; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19178/20]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 305 and 317 together.

Primary support for the arts in Ireland is delivered by the Arts Council, which is independent in its funding decisions under the Arts Act 2003. In June, the Government made an additional €20 million available to the Arts Council and a further €5 million as part of the July stimulus bringing the 2020 allocation to €105 million.

I understand that the outdoor arts event referred to by Deputy Gannon is made possible through public funding, sponsorship, donations and fundraising. The Arts Council operates a number of funding schemes for arts organisations such as that referred to by the Deputy and details of these may be viewed on their website's funding page.

The Arts Council works with the Local Authorities partnership through its strategic partnership which has been in operation for 10 years. Under this partnership, the Council provides funding on a competitive basis to support local authorities with ambitious and imaginative proposals to assist artists in developing their practice and their ideas, and/or deliver excellent arts experiences to the public. This includes funding to the local authorities who are in turn fund cultural events similar to that which the second Deputy refers to. Further details of these initiatives with local authorities’ arts offices can be accessed on the Arts Council's website under "local arts” at the following link www.artscouncil.ie/Arts-in-Ireland/Local-arts/.

Support for the local authorities is also provided under the Creative Ireland Programme which comprises of work co-funded by my Department and the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. In the past few weeks, my officials in the Creative Ireland Programme have been working with Programme partners including in the local authorities to develop a series of newly-funded initiatives in relation to positive ageing and creative wellbeing.

Operation and licensing of pubs is a matter for the Minister for Justice and school transport is a matter for the Minister for Education and Skills. Deputy O'Sullivan may wish to note that that the Return to Work Safely Protocol published by the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation provides detailed guidance developed to assist employers and employees in the coming period and is available at this link

.

In line with the revised ‘Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business’, pubs that do not serve substantial meals are due to reopen in Phase 4, which is scheduled to commence on 10 August. With reference to live music events the current restrictions of 50 people at indoor gatherings and 200 people at outdoor gatherings have been extended to 10 August.

Fáilte Ireland has published Guidelines for re-opening tailored to the various sectors of the Irish tourism industry including the reopening of pubs which can be accessed at this link . These guidelines are intended to provide clarity to operators so that they can reopen safely. The operational guidelines will be regularly updated by Fáilte Ireland in line with Government public health advice as and when this advice evolves.