Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I allocated €50 million in 2021 to a suite of measures to assist the arts and culture sector. As part of that funding, on Tuesday June 15th I 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 possible to award grants to everyone who applied. 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.

Officials in my Department are engaging with applicants in relation to queries regarding the outcome of their Live Performance Support Scheme application. Information in relation to the appeals process for this scheme is available on my Department's website here - www.gov.ie/en/service/ca5d7-live-performance-support-scheme-2021/.

I have also made an allocation of €14m available for the Music and Entertainment Business Assistance Scheme (MEBAS) to make a contribution to the overheads of businesses, specifically musicians and related crew, that have been significantly negatively affected by COVID-19 and that do not qualify for other business supports. The main features of this new scheme will see support offered by way of three levels of flat payments:

- €2,500 for businesses with a VAT-exclusive turnover of €20,000 - €50,000 with minimum business costs of €3,000 incurred from 1 April 2020 to 31 May 2021.

- €4,000 for businesses with a VAT-exclusive turnover of €50,001- €100,000 with minimum business costs of €6,000 from 1 April 2020 to 31 May 2021.

- €5,000 for businesses with VAT-exclusive turnover in excess of €100,000 with minimum business costs of €7,500 from 1 April 2020 to 31 May 2021.

Under the scheme, self employed businesses including musicians, singers, lighting and sound crew and audio equipment suppliers operating exclusively within the commercial live entertainment sector are eligible to apply. Applications may be made via the MEBAS application portal on my Department’s website.

In addition, I have announced an additional €11.5m for a new Events Sector Covid Support Scheme which I hope to launch soon. This scheme will target SMEs in the events sector which aren’t eligible for the CRSS and for whom MEBAS and the Small Business Assistance Scheme for COVID-19 will not make a significant contribution to fixed costs relative to the level of support that that would be available under CRSS, had such SMEs been eligible for that support.