139. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the total number of eligible applicants to the grassroots music venue supports scheme who met necessary criteria to avail of the scheme; the total number of successful applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34898/25]
Sentiment score: 0.26
149. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the total number of eligible applicants to the grassroots music venue supports scheme who met necessary criteria to avail of the scheme; the geographical distribution of the successful applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34899/25]
Sentiment score: 0.26
I want to raise the issue of the criteria that were used for the grassroots music venue support scheme. I commend the Department on introducing this scheme. As a festival director, I am acutely aware of the challenges for major festivals, like our own, but also the grassroots music venue supports. The scheme was very welcome, but it is devastating to learn how the Department divvied out this money on a first-come first-served basis. Not one venue north of Galway or west of Louth got money, despite the fact that there are sound technicians, music technicians and artists playing in venues that were eligible. The whole region has been left out because of the criteria used by the Department. This needs to be examined quickly. Some of these venues need the support and I ask the Minister reconsider the decisions that have been made.
Sentiment score: 0.20
I welcome the scheme and that money was provided. It was announced that the scheme was open and there was a closing date for it. The only venue in County Donegal that is eligible for the scheme is The Social in Gaoth Dobhair. I will give an example and the Minister will be aware of it because all the details were provided. The Social operated 84 eligible grassroots events during the two years that the scheme was available. This means that the venue was, on average, operating one of these events every week. This is a stand-alone facility; this is not a pub. It hosted ticketed events with artists such as The Hothouse Flowers, Muireann Bradley and others from across the island of Ireland. This supported sound engineers, lighting engineers and, most importantly, the acts themselves. To my knowledge, not one venue in the north west has been granted this money. The Minister announced this scheme that went from €5,000 up to €15,000 and the Department decided that 12 eligible applicants would get no money whatsoever. It would have been fairer for the Department give every eligible applicant €11,000 or thereabouts. There was €500,000 available so each could have got €11,000. However, the Department decided to give the money on a first-come first-served basis, despite the fact that in the case of The Social, its application was in to the Department within a week. They were told that someone got in before them and that was it. That is completely unfair. Good luck to all the venues that got the support. I imagine that there are very few that were as active and had as many eligible events as The Social in Gaoth Dobhair. The Minister will have this data. My question to the Minister chimes with what Jim McGuinness has been talking about regarding Donegal GAA for a while. Does the Minister not recognise that there are grassroots venues in the north west, that there are acts that need to be supported in these venues and that there are sound engineers and technicians who need to have a way of life as a result of that? The night-time economy initiative in Buncrana is completely different. No venue in Buncrana is eligible. No venue in counties Donegal, Sligo or Monaghan fit the criteria that have been set, bar The Social.
Sentiment score: 0.08
I am a Donegal TD. I will not stand here and say that the Department did a great job when it excluded the entire north west from this support scheme. The venue that I am talking about provides more grassroots events than many of the others that were eligible. I am sure that the Minister will be delighted when he goes back to Limerick. How many got the grant in his own county? Was it four or five? That is good for them. I support every single grassroots venue and every single festival. That is really important. However, in Donegal and the north west generally there is an industry that needs to be supported as well. The idea that the Department decided without telling the applicants that funding would be provided on a first-come first-served basis is simply wrong. I commend the Minister on being able to secure this as a pilot project. However, there was enough money in the pool, limited as it was, to ensure that every eligible venue got support. Why is that important? It is important because the acts, the sound engineers and the lighting engineers get the support. There are people in my county and the north west who need that support, just as much as they need it in Limerick, Cork and Dublin. The Department has made a major mistake in how this was allocated. It has completely ignored the north west. Because it is not a huge amount, I appeal to the Minister to provide funding to the other 12 eligible applicants. It would be about €150,000. The Minister should at least make an appeal to the Minister for public expenditure or to his own Department to make sure that every eligible applicant gets their fair share of this support.
Sentiment score: 0.26
A bit of regional balance and stop screwing the north west-----
Sentiment score: -0.48
I did not run them down.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Minister said there was good regional spread. On which map of Ireland does good regional spread mean no venue north of Galway and west of Louth?
Sentiment score: 0.31
If the Minister thinks that is true, he is off his rocker.
Sentiment score: 0.42
That is not good regional spread.
Sentiment score: -0.34