With the return of live music in Galway with The Grand Auld Stretch events at Nimmo’s Pier, and next week’s concerts in Pearse Stadium, a call has been made to prioritise a strategy to safely re-open the entertainment industry.
The call has come from the Social Democrats Galway City East councillor, Owen Hanley, who said the current re-opening of society is “unequal”, and continued closure will damage the economy.
"While we have thousands attending sporting events, the entertainment sector has been completely paused,” he said. “The reality is that after such an extended break many venues, entertainers, and experienced staff members won't be returning. The longer the delay, the more the industry loses.”
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The arts and entertainment sector was the first casualty of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is expected, indeed feared, that it will be the last to return post-pandemic.
The sector employs 35,000 people and is worth €3.5 billion to the annual economy. It is particularly important for Galway, given the local economic impact of the various festivals - many of which have national and international reputations - hosted in the city.
As a result, Cllr Hanley is calling on the Government to develop a recovery plan that will allow for the gradual return of indoor arts events.
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However, Cllr Hanley was also critical of the Government's handling of the issue to date, saying that the pilot cultural events run in June by the Department of Culture, were ultimately “a missed opportunity”.
"Those trials should have given us valuable evidence to get the entertainment industry back on its feet,” he said. “Instead, the most substantial update the industry has gotten in relation to a reopening was clarity from the Attorney General after the fallout of the Tanáiste attending Katherine Zappone's event in the Merrion Hotel. This was clarity event organisers had been seeking for weeks with no response."
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Give Us The Night, a campaign group which has been calling for progressive reform of the entertainment industry in Ireland, have written to the Government proposing measures to safely reopen festivals, venues, and nightclubs.
Cllr Hanley is supporting the group’s calls. "We need a diverse night-time economy, not just for the industry and workers directly affected, but for Galway overall,” he said. “Our city at night must be one with a range of cultural offerings to develop a better atmosphere than currently exists. Music, comedy, theatre, are mediums that offer joy and hope and deserve a clear plan to re-open."
