Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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154. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the degree to which she has evaluated the totality of the losses suffered by the various sectors under the aegis of her Department arising from Covid-19 or other reasons; the action taken or proposed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37670/20]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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While absolutely necessary to protect us all, the impact of the public health guidelines has been extremely challenging for the sectors supported by my Department. Tourism, Arts and Culture, Gaeltacht and the Irish language, Media and Sport are integral to our society; supporting economic activity, as well as enhancing physical, mental and societal well-being. The public-facing and audience driven nature of those sectors means that each time there is an escalation in the Level applicable under the Plan for Living with Covid-19 these sectors are often the hardest hit.

The impact of COVID is ongoing and it is too early to say with certainty what the total impact will be.

I am however acutely aware of the need to support our sectors through these challenging times and have been in regular and sustained contact with a broad range of stakeholders over the past weeks and months. In addition to bilateral engagements with a wide range of stakeholders and agencies under the aegis of the Department, a number of taskforces and consultative fora have been established to ensure that I have the most up to date information about the difficulties facing these sectors. This includes the Tourism Recovery Taskforce, the Tourism Hospitality Forum, the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce, the Night-time Economy Taskforce, and the Sports Monitoring Group. These involve a broad range of stakeholders with experience and insight to develop sustainable roadmaps for the recovery of these sectors. Both the Tourism and Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforces have reported at this stage and I will continue to work with stakeholders on their implementation.

This broad sectorial engagement has led to the very favourable outcomes achieved for these sectors in the context of both the July Stimulus and Budget 2021.  Some of the key measures have been introduced in 2020 to help the sectors my Department supports, include:

- An additional €25m for the Arts Council;

- A €5m Live Events Pilot Grant Scheme;

- €5m to support the NCI’s and nationwide arts infrastructure;

- A €5m Company Stabilisation Support for Gaeltacht Companies;

- The “Stay and Spend” tax credit initiative;

- A €26m adaptation grant for the tourism sector;

- A €10m grant for coach tourism;

- €40m for the three main field sport bodies, GAA, IRFU and FAI;

- €15m resilience fund for sport governing bodies and clubs;

The universal income supports of PUP and the wage subsidy scheme continue to be key to supporting to all sectors thorough this crisis, the extension of both of these schemes has provided some much needed certainty.

In addition, as part of Budget 2021 I have put in place a number of substantial measures to support and strengthen the sectors through 2021.  I have also worked with colleagues across Government to introduce measures to enhance the competitiveness of sectors under my remit as well as ensuring access to the range of horizontal supports available. These include:

- A new €55m support fund for strategic tourism businesses;

- VAT on the tourism and hospitality sectors has been reduced to 9%, and will improve competitiveness and viability of businesses

- hospitality, accommodation and arts businesses impacted by pandemic can get rebates of up to €5,000 a week under new COVID Restrictions Support Scheme (CRSS)

- a new  €50m programme of support for live entertainment

- a record €130m in funding for the Arts Council for 2021

- over €78m funding allocation for Gaeltacht and Irish language sector – up €14.8m on initial 2020 allocation

- funding for TG4 up to €40.733m

- Sport Ireland allocated €104.5m – up €36

I will continue this positive engagement with the sectors and consider the views and recommendations of these taskforces and consultative fora in regard to any further necessary measures or supports required as a consequence of COVID-19.