Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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233. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will publish the terms of reference for her Departmental working group on the live entertainment sector; and the reason this group is not considering live Covid-19 testing at live music and cultural events as is currently taking place in other jurisdictions. [25362/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Government’s COVID-19 Resilience and Recovery 2021 - The Path Ahead plan sets out the Government’s objectives for the full recovery of social life, public services and the economy. The plan committed to the development of sectorial guidance for very large purpose built event facilities, for example: stadia, auditoriums, conference or event centres.

I established a Return to Live Entertainment Working Group in order to facilitate stakeholder consultation and develop COVID-19 Guidelines for the Live Entertainment sector. The Group includes stakeholders from across the live entertainment sector as well and those with appropriate technical knowledge in the planning, management and delivery of events including the, City and County Managers Association (CCMA), the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Theatre Forum, Fáilte Ireland, Events Industry Alliance, Eamonn O'Boyle and Associates, Live Venue Collective, Events Industry Association Ireland, Independent Producers Forum, EPIC, Arts Council, Venue Operators Forum and officials from my Department. The core objective of the Group is to produce a high level principles set of guidance that all venue promoters can adopt for their specific purposes. The first meeting of this group was held on the 21 April 2021.

The draft Terms of Reference for the Working Group, which are due to be agreed at the group's next meeting, are to develop overarching Covid-19 sectorial guidance for the Live Entertainment sector, and to ensure that the Guidance provides for:

- Consistency of approach across all live performance venues;

- A set of overarching guiding principles which all venue promotors can adapt for their specific purposes;

- Alignment with the Government’s Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021 – The Path Ahead;

- Alignment with the Government’s Stay Safe Guidelines;

- Alignment with the Government’s Work Safely Protocols.

It is hoped to begin hosting a limited number of pilot live events for sport and live entertainment, both indoor and outdoor commencing in June, depending on the epidemiological situation at the time and subject to the rollout of the vaccination programme. Every option for the safe roll out of these events will be considered. The work of the group will inform these events.