Mattie McGrath backs amendment calling for CCRSS assessment
Mattie McGrath spoke in the Dáil to support Deputy Mayor Barrett's amendment calling for an assessment and evaluation of the CCRSS scheme. He argued the scheme was introduced in a hurry and has left important cohorts - including musicians, entertainers and dance teachers - without adequate support.
Support for amendment
He said the amendment seeks a formal assessment of how the COVID supports under the CCRSS scheme are functioning and working, and he backed Deputy Mayor Barrett and his group in pressing for that evaluation.
Gaps in CCRSS coverage
McGrath listed cohorts he said were not embraced by the scheme, including publicans, taxi owners, bus owners, the music and arts industries, and local entertainers from communities such as Carrigan Shore up to Moonegal. He named local performers he said bring huge enjoyment and followings.
Financial pressures on performers
He highlighted the costs facing musicians and crews - vans, specialised sound and lighting equipment, and the need to borrow or place a charge on homes to cover payments - arguing many are not receiving the supports they should get.
Dance teachers and children's wellbeing
McGrath described dance teachers from Dublin and as far as Wexford, Gorey and New Ross who have been denied the right to work. He said large, well-ventilated studios are safer than crowded classrooms and warned of mental-health and cultural losses if young dancers cannot return.
Cultural value and recovery
He urged a return to basics to let performers flourish and pointed to Riverdance and other cultural exports as examples of the wider value the music, dance and entertainment sectors bring nationally and abroad.
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Good morning, I was at 59 and it's very important that I want to support Deputy Mayor Barrett and his group with this amendment here and you know what I mean it's to do an assessment you know and about the CCRSS scheme and the whole evaluation of it and how it's functioning and working and we all know that these schemes were introduced in a hurry and you know there wasn't much time and you know they're broadly based but look there are certain cohorts out there that are not uh haven't been embraced at all at all you know from the point of view of the scheme and you know publicans if there were over 66 bus driver tax driver or taxi driver you know and owners sorry not drivers sorry these are owners owners of taxi self-implied and the ready-made stroke all those cohorts of people are huge the music industry and the arts industry and they all well some of them are very big and they're very uh uh great um bands and great uh following following following following all over the world from Nashville to Valley the Hub but I'm talking about the local ones in Tipper Dawn from Carrigan Shore up to Moonegal and indeed the valuable entertainment they give with the fame Louise Morrissey, Trudy Lawler, Frank Corey and Muriel you name them I could say they name me here for a day uh that give huge enjoyment and huge followings but for them to go back on the road I don't know if they'll ever be able to fine-tune but that won't be killed in them because they have the spirit to entertain and then they love it and they get everybody back from the full halls and the full venues and cultural center and broo-paroo and they travel far on here but they have to have a van you know to deliver their equipment whether they're one man or two persons and they're normally only only one or two and that equipment costs a fortune the sound engineers the lighting engineers valuable um pieces of equipment and it's very specialized they're trained heavily you know on how to use it and they cannot because they have the rateable building is in the van packed beside the house and they have to borrow for that and they have to borrow to to to to to they have to borrow to to to and mortgage their houses in many cases and not mortgage their houses but have a leaning on their house to cover the payments and they're not getting um the supports they should be getting so uh it's the case of the Natalie Colonel Lecailer they're not getting those supports um dancing teachers mainly from Dublin region but they're far away as Wexford Gory and New Ross and they have been denied the right to go back to work and children with letters I love dance I want to dance let me dance all problems as I meant to the Irish dancing as Deputy Haley Ray said last night but everything white ballet to high performance ass everything and they have massive studios safe places when you think there are 30 children in a classroom in a prefab with a teacher a mentor and maybe two special needs assistants and so in a small area they have dance studios four times four times as big as that proper ventilation and something must be done for those people to allow them to get back not only for the teachers the muntory and the families and the businesses but just the mental health of those people and the rinky and the ogre the young dancers no matter what it is whatever kind of dance you know and they're wide and varied and many that I've never even embraced someone I've seen them and they want to dance because it's not fair if you were buying a girl in a dance school and they're not allowed to dance there or get tuition Dubai can go to gym access and train or rugby or soccer so you drift away from dancing and we can it's very hard to keep a bookly yoga involved in dance of any shape because at the teenage years they drift off into or cool stuff but some kids just dancing is the thing you look at river dance look at skull rings and they cry I have to learn interest in that my own niece and you know my own daughter was to go to the world champion this year didn't happen so they've all been devastated but they need to get back because dancing is a life they love it as part of our culture and heritage so we're trying over the constitution here and we must go back to basics and let these people flourish look at the value we're going to get added value look at the river dance what it brought to us and all the other people and shows and look at Kyoto's culture and traveling the world four or five continents that's fabulous and we need to embrace that again
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