Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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283. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to the disproportionality of the awards under the local live performance support scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33602/21]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I am critically aware of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the culture and entertainment sector and have engaged intensively with Government colleagues, stakeholders and officials to ensure that an appropriate suite of supports is available for the sector.

As part of the €50 million funding which I secured for the live entertainment sector, I recently confirmed the release of €5 million in funding for local authorities to support live music in villages and towns across the county. Following discussions with the County and City Managers Association, amounts of €285,000 are now available to the Dublin local authorities and €143,000 to all other local authorities to facilitate the programming of live performances over the summer months, animating town centres for local communities as public health considerations permit. Performances can be recorded or streamed if health restrictions prevent live events. Local authorities will be encouraged to engage events companies or curators to develop and deliver a programme of performances.

I have also recently announced the allocations for the €25m Live Performance Support Scheme (LPSS 2021).  I was delighted to be in a position to fund 237 successful applications under this scheme, the details of which are available on my Department’s website.  There was a very high level of interest in this scheme, with over 400 applications requesting funding in excess of €80 million. Given the available funding of €25 million, difficult decisions had to be made and it was not be possible to award grants to everyone who applied.  All of the applications were assessed and scored and the allocations were based on the scores awarded.  The 237 grants awarded will help support employment and wellbeing opportunities across all genres and the continued production of high quality artistic output for the public.