Mr. Pádraig Harnett from Killarney posted on social media two hours ago, stating that a drive-in cinema is allowed but our hard-pressed musicians and comedians cannot do drive-in shows because the law does not give permission for anybody to be on a stage. He referred to "more of this lazy one rule fits all governing". The income of our musicians, comedians and all the crews has been wiped out, with no date set for a return to indoor events. Venues that looked to be proactive and book acts had to cancel them due to another poorly written law.

There are 35,000 people involved in the entertainment business. Taking the Gleneagle INEC venue in Killarney as an example, a far finer venue than where we are sitting today, it had a summer schedule arranged. It included people like the great comedian Bernard Casey and others. It was arranged but now the venue has had to stop the performances. It does not make sense that we can go to a drive-in cinema or drive-in bingo but not this. There was drive-in bingo in Castleisland two weeks ago that drew a great crowd. I went there and played bingo and I was very glad to do so. However, it makes no sense that we cannot have a drive-in concert.

The time is up. Perhaps we should have a drive-in session of the Dáil.

It is not a bad idea. The Deputy makes a valid point and this is something we will examine between now and the announcement on phase 4. We have some time over the next couple of weeks to examine the matter. I am not a public health expert but if people on stage are adequately socially distanced, it should be okay. That would apply if a comedian was on his or her own or if people are reasonably separated on stage. It should be possible. It is something we will consider between now and any announcement in the run-up to the next phase.

We get away with a fair bit of comedy around here.