James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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132. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her strategy to support jobs and businesses in the night-time economy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2508/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Night-time Economy is a hugely important sector, contributing to our economy and our cultural and creative sectors and it is important that we protect, support and sustain the jobs and businesses who operate within it.

In support of the Programme for Government, I established the Night-Time Economy Taskforce in July 2020.  The Taskforce carried out a stakeholder engagement process, as part of their work, which saw numerous submissions invited and received from the business sector, and a variety of business stakeholders were invited to present to the Taskforce.   Their submissions fed into the Report of the Night-Time Economy Taskforce which I launched last September and contains 36 practical recommendations in the area of regulation, licensing, planning, transport, safety and increasing the diversity of activities as part of the night-time offering. 

Work is well underway on the implementation of these actions, and I have allocated €4m from my Departments budget to towards this implementation.

My Department is currently engaging with the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment and the Retail Forum to examine the types of interventions required for late retail opening, a recommendation made by the Taskforce.

The Report also suggests practical solutions to help cities, towns and villages which have already faced multiple challenges, find and develop new opportunities including, for example, the pilot initiative to establish new "Night-Time Advisors" in six cities and towns to develop new Night-Time Economy opportunities.

I acknowledge that many of those who work and operate businesses within the night-time economy have been particularly hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, and I am committed to supporting these sectors as they journey through a difficult and unprecedented phase of business operations.  

I am committed to supporting the live performance and nightclub sector which accounts for many of those who are employed and operate business in the night-time economy.  In December I was pleased to announce details of a €50 million suite of measures to support the live performance sector in 2022. As part of this suite of supports and, building on the success and exceptional demand for the Live Performance Support Scheme 2021 (LPSS 2021), a further strand of this scheme called the LPSS 3 opened for applications on December 20th.  In addition to LPSS 3, further supports will also be provided for the sector in 2022, including;

- Another strand of the Live Performance Support Scheme (LPSS 4), to support performances being staged from February 2022 to June 2022. Further information, including guidelines for this scheme will be made available in the coming weeks.

- Another round of the MEBAS (Music and Entertainment Business Assistance Scheme) scheme due to be announced shortly;

- €5m for Local Authorities to support local artists and performances through the LLPSS (Local Live Performance Support Scheme).

- €5m to continue the capital supports scheme (CECGS) to venues, including for ventilation upgrades and other COVID adaptations

- €1m for the Saint Patrick's Festival 2022

In addition to these supports, my Department, along with colleagues in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Social Protection will continue to engage with the sector throughout these challenging times and will keep the available supports under constant review.