Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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109. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if her attention has been drawn to the request by a committee (details supplied) to meet with her and her officials to discuss the Covid-19 supports they need given the impact of public health measures on their ability to earn income over recent months; if she will respond positively to the request for a meeting; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2529/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I am critically aware of the devastating impact that Covid-19 has had on all areas of the arts and cultural sector, and I have endeavoured to make sure that the voices of those in this sector have been heard. I have personally met with numerous representative organisations, including members of the group mentioned by the Deputy a number of times, and have continued contact with these organisations and others on a regular basis throughout the pandemic. 

I continue to engage with the tourism and hospitality sector on a regular basis, including through the Hospitality & Tourism Forum. The Tánaiste and I co-Chair the forum and it is designed to engage with a wide spectrum of industry stakeholders in order to assess the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, to help improve understanding and responses to the crisis and to discuss ideas for recovery measures, thus assisting the Government in formulating its on-going response to the crisis.

In addition, my Department has frequent meetings with the stakeholders in the live entertainment industry through a Stakeholder Forum for Live Entertainment, which has become a regular fixture hosted by my officials, and I attend this engagement frequently when possible.  As I have said stakeholder engagement is at the heart of my approach to dealing with the impact of Covid on the sector. A number of members of the group referred to by the Deputy are members of the Live Entertainment Stakeholder Forum. 

I remain committed to ongoing consultation with sector stakeholders who continue to be impacted by this devastating pandemic. I intend to meet with the Live Entertainment Stakeholder Forum again in the near future and of course I also look forward to continued interaction with Oireachtas colleagues. I once again thank my Oireachtas colleagues for their ongoing support for the recovery of the arts and culture sector.