Mattie McGrath pleads for struggling musicians ahead of Christmas

Premier of County is certainly leading today. I go a ní, I go a ní, I go a ní, I go a ní, and I want to wish you, Conchola, and your Les Conchola, and Peter Finnegan, and all the staff, and all the members of the House, and indeed the Oisars, the Gairdysh Icona, and anyone that we interact with, thank them for the course of the 30th and I wish them a happy, a holy and peaceful Christmas. Minister, I want to ask you today, and I am delighted that Minister Martin is here, plead, plead for the actors, the musicians, Nicole Torrey and Nadine Oge, they are so troubled at the moment, they are painless. Why is it that the majority of musicians and workers in the music industry, lighting engineers and sound engineers, are always left out when it comes to support. It always seems to be the venues or the big organisations that get, including the Arts Council, that get funded and does not trickle down to the grassroots, to the music on the ground, the music man or woman, the One Piece band 2, 3 or 4. They are literally painless now. Who do you engage with, I want to ask your Minister, when it comes to deciding who gets what, or who does the Department of Arts engage with Minister, is more important, as it seems that they are listening to the wrong people. They are listening to powerful lobby groups, powerful big organisations, and they are getting the funding, and men and women on the ground, which often happens, are left painless. I am pleading with you, can you get POP rolled out, where there are no strings to jump through at this stage? Because the majority of gigs, as we know, all the gigs have been cancelled, and there is on the back of a failed reopening plan, an admissibly failed reopening plan that she initiated, and in the actions of Neffet, ever before Cabinet decided on the Cheech School destination, leaks, it devastated every hotel and pub, everything was cancelled for Christmas. Christmas was almost cancelled, but for the resilience of Santi, he would cancel it, and that is a horrible thing to have to say. The pub has been reduced twice, and now these people, when they come off it, in good faith, go back to what they love, to sing, and to enhance people's lives, and to entertain, and to give solace to people. They tried it, and then you pulled the rope from under the feet. I am asking you, Minister Martin, to get involved today with the MAI and others, because this is almost Christmas week, it is our second and last day here, and these people, many of them have sold their vans, many of them have sold some of their equipment, the banks are now foreclosing in some of their mortgages. It is a novel situation for these people, from the Curtis Court or Ian, and all their musicians, led by the wonderful Lord Ross, Eoshaan Adore, and the people like Willy Bundt, the people like Paul Afford, and I could name a string of them here, Dormo Driscoll, Trudy Lawlor, I could name a multi, in every parish, in every town literally, and they give up themselves, but the solace that they give to people, the people are longing for music, song and dance. They have been locked up and incarcerated for 19 months now, facing second Christmas, and they need that stimulation. It is part of our culture and heritage. Are you going to wipe it out? Have you some kind of death wish against these, Minister Martin? I am asking this one too, because you won't deal with them, you won't talk to them. You did meet them, Minister O'Gray, I know, and I appreciate the bonnet feeders of Minister Martin too, but I believe there is some kind of an issue with the senior department of affairs and your department, Minister Martin, that is not allowing these small people, these wonderful people. It does not mean small in stature. Oh my God, the stature is huge, because the solace, the mental health issues that they solve and resolve, and the very solace and good wellbeing they give to people. To get out there and listen to the songs and to the dance and have a bit of crack. That is all they want. And they are not robbing people. The venues are very, very cheap. The venues are also getting hammered, we know that, but these magicians are my plea today. I am pleading with you before Christmas to please, please, please, please think of them. They are penniless. Thank you. Minister. Thank you very much, Deputy. It is a hat-trick for the Premier County today, so good to engage with you, Deputy McGrath. I do want to say that Minister Martin has had ongoing engagement with the sector. In fact, our officials met with them again yesterday, and Minister Martin did attend the meeting, along with myself and the Tánaiste on the 6th of December, and the MEAI, whom you have referenced, were in attendance at that meeting, fully participated and spoke at that meeting. So there has been and continues to be ongoing engagement, and Minister Martin has always advocated very strongly around the Cabinet table and in all of our bilateral engagement for this sector, because she and all of Government recognise that they have been among the most impacted since March of 2020. And we do want to protect all elements of our culture, of our heritage, traditional music, which I know you enjoy so much. It is such an important part of the fabric of our society. And that is why we have brought forward a lot of supports, Deputy. The way in which they translate and work their way through to individual musicians can sometimes be a challenge. We accept that. But in the last couple of weeks, as you know, the Minister outlined a further package for the live entertainment sector in relation to five million for seasonal musical theatre and pantomime scheme, another round of the live performance support scheme, which has enabled to date so many different events and live performances to take place. And there will be further funding for that in the fourth round, that will be that will come in the months ahead. Additional funding as well for local authorities to support local artists and local performances through the local live performance support scheme. And also we are providing funding to venues for capital supports, so to enable them to upgrade their premises to be able to continue to operate to the maximum degree possible within the confines of the public health guidelines that we have. We acknowledge the public have responded to the public health messaging over the last number of weeks and the sector that has had to carry the burden of the public health system. We have reopened the pandemic unemployment payment since, I believe, it is the 7th of December for people who are directly impacted by the new restrictions that have been introduced. I am aware of the issues that you have raised. A number of individuals have contacted me directly about their own particular cases. Those are being examined and I am discussing those issues with Minister Humphreys and to see what we can do to ensure that people who need the support, the people who are directly impacted by the imposition of these additional restrictions, get the support at this time. That is why it was put in place in the first place. We have spent about €9 billion to date on the pandemic unemployment payment and another €9 billion on wage support. I do not think this Government has been found wanting in looking after people who have been the most directly impacted. I welcome your feedback and it will be taken on board. The taxi industry who brings people to these venues, they are hammered also. I have phone calls today from them because they went off to the Pope and they cannot get back on it because they are left with unemployment payment. I thank you for your endeavours. I know the money you spent, but I am just saying they are wrong. I do not deny it to anyone, but it is not trickling down to the people. You know it, Minister Martin knows it. I am appealing again to look after the musicians because they do not put their hand out ever and they are proud people as well, but they are in a perilous situation. They were knocked off and they were closed down in the industry venues and gigs. They had lots of gigs and this is the busiest time of year. I hope this is good news on this note. They have, to no fault of their own, they are now pitiless money and going to community welfare office. I do want to thank the officials and social welfare are doing their best, but there is some blockage at the top, at the very senior level, and these people who will have been treated. You were forewarned about this by the MEI months ago, that this happened in the first round that were left out. The big organizations, so I shouldn't be thinking about anything. They asked the council, they got massive monies, and that is not fair, because they have to worry about all of spin doctors and PR people and all, but the only man in the van, I do like to dance, and often we have to dance, not together, but our wives and other people, just in case we are talking about us dancing together, but of course I like to dance. I told many, many people, I often dance in Cabernet Monarch as well, to be Tom, big Tom, New Yorkshire ABO, Farrah Oostal, and Anans Bortigang, the carnivals as well, but no, people need that. The musicians need to be able to survive Christmas to feed their families in this state, and that is the plea I am making to you, to go back and look at it. There is a blockage, it is not tweaking down, and the taxi drivers are in a parallel situation also. Thank you. Minister. Thank you very much Deputy. I do want to say that Minister Humphries was the person who recognised that there was a need to reopen the PUP has always been at pains to say that we have to look after the people who are most in need and who are the most impacted by the restrictions. I think it is important to put that point on the record. The PUP is open for people to go back on it. People who came off it previously can go back on the PUP. Those who did not return to work continue on the PUP at the rate of €250 and can earn €960 over an eight-week period. So they can earn €120 a week if they get a gig, they get an event, they can earn that without it having any impact on their PUP whatsoever. And that was an exceptional provision which has not traditionally been there in relation to a number of other social welfare codes. The PUP has been reopened for those impacted by the recent restrictions. So I would just ask people to engage with the Department of Social Protection and the feedback you have provided has been listened to and will be taken on board. But the PUP is there. It is open for new applicants who have been directly impacted by these restrictions.