185. Deputy Eoghan Murphy asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media her plans to increase the number of publicly funded outdoor event venues that can accommodate social distancing similar to that at Wood Quay, Dublin 8. [35903/20]

Publicly funded outdoor event venues such as Wood Quay are, first and foremost, a matter for local authorities. Chapter 5 of Resilience and Recovery 2020 -2021: the Government's plan for Living with COVID-19 on Developing Economic Resilience states that local authorities will develop recovery initiatives including town centre / public realm alterations, incentive schemes and advisory assistance. This process is being supported by the Departments of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Rural and Community Development and Enterprise, Trade and Employment. My Department is also engaged in this process and would welcome any such facilities and in particular would be well-placed to provide funding for programming in such venues.