The Premier County is leading today. I call Deputy Mattie McGrath.

I gcónaí. I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Peter Finnegan, all the staff, all the Members of the House, the ushers, the Garda Síochána and anyone else with whom we interact for their courtesy throughout the year. I wish them a happy, holy and peaceful Christmas.

I am delighted that the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is here. I wish to plead for the artists, the musicians, the ceoltóirí and na daoine óga agus aosta. They are so troubled at the moment. They are penniless. Why is it that the majority of musicians and workers in the music industry, including lighting engineers, sound engineers and everybody else, are always left out when it comes to supports? It always seems to be the venues or the big organisations, including the Arts Council, that get funded, and the funding does not trickle down to the grassroots, the music on the ground and the music man or music woman or the one-piece, two-piece, three-piece or four-piece band. They are penniless now. With whom does the Government engage when it comes to deciding who gets what? With whom does the Department with responsibility for arts engage? The latter is more important as it seems that it is listening to the wrong people. It is listening to powerful lobby groups and big organisations and they are getting the funding while the man and woman on the ground, as so often happens, are left penniless. I am pleading with the Government. Can it get the PUP rolled out such that there are no hoops to jump through? All the gigs, as we know, have been cancelled on the back of a miserably failed reopening plan that the Government initiated. Then NPHET's actions, before Cabinet decides on them or the Taoiseach addresses the nation, were leaked. This devastated every hotel and pub. Everything was cancelled for Christmas. Christmas was almost cancelled. But for the resilience of Santy, the Government would cancel it, and that is a horrible thing to have to say. The pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, has been reduced twice, and now these people have come off the payment in good faith to go back to what they love, to sing, to enhance people's lives, to entertain and to give solace to people. They tried to do that and then the Government pulled the rug from under their feet.

I ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform or the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, to get involved today with the Music and Entertainment Association of Ireland, MEAI, and others because it is almost Christmas week. It is our second last day here, and many of these people have sold their vans or some of their equipment. The banks are now foreclosing on some of their mortgages. It is an awful situation for these people from Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and all its musicians, led by the wonderful Labhrás Ó Murchú, iar-Sheanadóir, to people like Willie Bun and Paul Lafford to Dom O'Driscoll and Trudi Lalor. I could name a string of them all day. They are in every parish and every townland. They give of themselves. They give solace to the people longing for music, song and dance. They have been locked up and incarcerated for 19 months, facing a second similar Christmas, and they need that stimulation. It is part of our culture and heritage. Is the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, going to wipe it out? Has she some kind of death wish against these people? She will not deal with them. She will not talk to them. The Minister, Deputy McGrath, met them, and I appreciate the bona fides of the Minister, Deputy Martin, but I believe there is some issue with senior officials in her Department who are not allowing these small people, these wonderful people to perform. I do not mean small in stature. My God, their stature is huge because of the mental health issues they resolve and the solace and well-being they give to people in getting them out there listening to songs and having a dance and a bit of craic. That is all they want. They are not robbing people. The venues are very cheap. The venues also are getting hammered but my plea today is on behalf of these musicians. I am pleading with the Government to think of them before Christmas. They are penniless.

It is a hat-trick for the Premier County today. It is good to engage with Deputy McGrath. The Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, has had ongoing engagement with representatives of the sector and, in fact, her officials met with them again yesterday. The Minister attended the meeting along with me and the Tánaiste on 6 December. The MEAI, to which the Deputy referred, was in attendance at that meeting and fully participated in and spoke at it, so there has been and continues to be ongoing engagement. The Minister, Deputy Martin, has always advocated very strongly around the Cabinet table and in all her bilateral engagements for this sector because she and all of Government recognise that it has been among the most impacted since March 2020. We want to protect all elements of our culture and heritage, including traditional music, which I know the Deputy enjoys so much. It is such an important part of the fabric of Irish society. That is why we have brought forward a lot of supports. The way in which they translate and work their way through to individual musicians can sometimes be a challenge, which we accept, but in recent weeks, as the Deputy knows, the Minister outlined a further package for the live entertainment sector. This comprises €5 million for the seasonal musical theatre and pantomime scheme and another round of the live performance support scheme, which has enabled so many different events and live performances to take place. There will be further funding for that in the fourth round that will come in the months ahead. There has been additional funding as well for local authorities to support local artists and local performances through the local live performance support scheme. We are also providing funding to venues for capital supports 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 we have.

We acknowledge that the public have responded to the public health messaging over the past number of weeks, and the sector that has had to carry the burden of that has been the night-time economy, the live entertainment and hospitality sector. We have reopened the PUP scheme since, I believe, 7 December for people who are directly impacted by the new restrictions that have been introduced. I am aware of the issues the Deputy has raised. A number of individuals have contacted me directly about their own cases. Those are being examined and I am discussing those issues with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to see what we can do to ensure that people who need the support and 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 approximately €9 billion to date on the PUP and another €9 billion on wage supports. The Government, therefore, has not been found wanting in looking after people who have been the most directly impacted.

I welcome the Deputy's feedback and it will be taken on board.

I should have mentioned those working in the taxi industry who bring people to these venues. They are also being hammered. I have had four phone calls from people in the industry today. They went off the PUP and now they cannot get back on it.

They can get back on it.

They are left with the unemployment payment. I thank the Minister for his endeavours. I know the money is being spent, and I am not denying that, but it is not trickling down to the people. The Minister knows it and the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media knows it. I am appealing again for the Government to look after the musicians. They never put their hand out and they are proud people. They are in a perilous situation. They were knocked off and the industry, venues and gigs were closed down. They had lots of gigs booked. This is the busiest time of the year. They hoped there would be good news. Through no fault of their own, they are now penniless and they are going to the community welfare office. I thank the officials in social welfare who are doing their best. However, there is some blockage at the top, at a very senior level. It is reflected in the way these people are being treated. The Government was forewarned about this by the MEAI months ago. It happened in the first round when they were left out - the big organisations, and I should not be singling any of them out, the arts centres and all the centres. The Arts Council got massive moneys That is not fair, because it has the wherewithal of spin doctors and PR people and all, but the ordinary man in the van ag canadh agus ag imirt did not. I like to dance. Often we had a dance with our wives and other people. We talked about it as we were dancing together. Of course, I like to dance, like many people.

The Deputy is a great dancer.

I often danced in counties Cavan and Monaghan to Big Tom nuair a bhí sé beo, an fear uasal. Bhí an-spórt againn at the carnivals as well. People need that. The musicians need to be able to survive Christmas to feed their families. I am pleading with the Minister to go back and look at the issue. There is a blockage and the money is not trickling down. The taxi drivers are also in a perilous situation.

I should say that the Minister for Social Protection 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 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 to receive the PUP at the rate of €250 per week and can earn €960 over an eight-week period. They can earn €120 a week. If they get a gig or an event, they can earn that without it having any impact on their PUP whatsoever. That is 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. I ask people to engage with the Department of Social Protection. The Deputy's feedback has been listened to and will be taken on board. The PUP is there and is open for new applicants who have been directly impacted by these restrictions.