Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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264. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will give further consideration to issues raised in relation to the entertainment industry (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9842/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I am acutely aware of the challenges facing all musicians who rely on live performance to sustain their livelihoods on foot of necessary public health restrictions. An allocation of €50 million was made in Budget 2021 for the live performance sector. It is intended that the rollout of the funding would include measures that will build on grant schemes launched under the July stimulus, such as the pilot "Live Performance Support Scheme" and the "Music Industry Support Package".

Officials have gained valuable insights from these schemes and will apply these learnings when allocating funding this year. Other measures are also under consideration including those which have emerged from engagement with the sector and with stakeholders. This engagement is ongoing and included recent meetings between officials of my Department and the Wedding Bands Association. It is hoped that further details and decisions will be announced shortly.

My colleague the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has in place a range of business and financial supports available to help businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis and these can be viewed at the following link . This includes a new scheme called the COVID Business Aid Scheme (CBAS) which is aimed at those businesses who fall outside the eligibility requirements for CRSS. Supports such as the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) and the CRSS will continue to be made available to those impacted. The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) is also available to help maintain people in jobs.