Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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254. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the extent to which she and her Department expect to promote Irish culture as a means to use national culture to promote the interests of Ireland at home and abroad in what will be a much more competitive market in the aftermath of Covid-19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10757/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Ireland aims to increase its global impact through the promotion of Irish arts worldwide, in line with Government's Global Ireland 2025 initiative. Ireland's strong global reputation for creativity brings many benefits to our country including the encouraging of tourism, education and business interests. Representatives from Tourism Ireland, The Arts Council, Screen Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs serve on the Expert Advisory Committee of Culture Ireland and work to ensure that there is a joined up approach to maximise the outcomes from the promotion of Irish artists globally.

Culture Ireland has the primary responsibility for the promotion of Irish arts and artists globally and through its Grant Programmes and special initiatives Culture Ireland works to support the presentation of Irish artists to audiences worldwide. I am delighted that with the lifting of restrictions, I can once again support Irish artists to travel globally to present their work in person.

The upcoming St Patrick's Day period offers an exceptional opportunity to highlight Ireland on the world stage. In addition to Culture Ireland support for artists travelling, there is continuing support for artists to present their work virtually, reaching territories where Irish artists may not generally travel. Next week I will announce a special Culture Ireland programme, SEODA, which is a 5 day online festival of some of Ireland's Irish artists.

At home visitors to Ireland can experience the St Patrick's Festival in person this year as well as a wealth of arts and culture programmes delivered by our National Cultural Institutions and artists and arts organisations with increased funding to the Arts Council and the live performance sector.

I remain cognisant of the fact that the pandemic restrictions posed particular challenges for the arts and culture sector and for 2022 have put in place support of supports for the live entertainment sector in 2022 in addition to record funding for the Arts Council, ensuring Irish arts can be created for presentation nationally and internationally.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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255. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the degree to which she proposes to support culture activities throughout 2022 having regard to the need for recovery in the sector in the aftermath of Covid-19; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10758/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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From January 22nd Government agreed that all remaining restrictions on live entertainment including the 8pm closing and 50% capacity at live events would be lifted. This represents the full reopening of our economy and our society, and is a crucial opportunity to return to work for those who work in the live entertainment and events sector. I am heartened to see so many gigs and live events going ahead at the moment at full capacity, and it is great to see artists and crews back doing what they do best after two very difficult years.

I was very cognisant of the challenges the restrictions caused for the arts/culture and live entertainment industry in 2021 and I provided grants of over €55m to support the sector and drive employment opportunities for artists and crews, through the introduction of the following schemes:

- Live Performance Support Scheme (LPSS)

- Events Sector Covid Support Scheme (ESCSS)

- Local Live Performance Support Scheme (LLPSS)

- Music and Entertainment Support Scheme (MEBAS)

- Commercial Entertainment Capital Grant Scheme (CECGS)

- St. Patrick's Festival

These schemes provided thousands of hours of employment for artists and crews at a time when restrictions were such that there were no employment opportunities. The schemes also provided a pipeline of high quality artistic output.

In 2022 I have put a number of supports in place to support the recovery of the live entertainment sector including the following:

- €5m for Live Performance Support Scheme Strand 2 – for pantomime and seasonal musical theatre events curtailed or cancelled in December 2021 and January 2022. Grants of €2.6m have also been offered under the LPSS 2 to date with payments made of almost €600,000;

- €20m for the Live Performance Support Scheme 3 – for events cancelled, curtailed or rescheduled in December 2021 and January 2022.Grants of over €4.6m have been offered to date under LPSS 3 to date with payments made totalling almost €800,000.

- €4m for the 2022 Music and Entertainment Support Scheme (MEBAS). Since it opened four weeks ago 672 applications have been received seeking funding of €2.6m, Payments under this scheme will begin this week.

- €5m for the Commercial Entertainment Capital Grant Scheme (CECGS)

In relation to a further round of the Live Performance Support Scheme, my Department is currently examining all options for the proposed scheme and I expect to make an announcement shortly on this matter.