Government Public Health Advice

Following the Government’s announcement on January 21st 2022, all information on current Government Public Health advice can be found on www.gov.ie.

The Work Safely Protocol which has now been renamed as Transitional Protocol:  Good Practice Guidance for Continuing to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 can be found here: gov.ie - Transitional Protocol: Good Practice Guidance for Continuing to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 (www.gov.ie)

COVID-19 Income Supports

The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection have a range of measures to provide income support to people affected by COVID-19. You can access information on the supports offered here

The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media also has a dedicated helpdesk for queries about income support. You can send an email here with a short description of your question along with your telephone number. An official will contact you as soon as possible to discuss your query.

Arts and Culture Recovery Task Force

In September 2020, Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht, Catherine Martin T.D., announced the members of the Arts and Culture Recovery Task Force. The Task Force was established to prepare a report for the Minister including a set of recommendations on how best the arts and culture sector can adapt and recover from the unprecedented damage arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 17 November Minister welcomed the publication of Live Worth Living, the Report of the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce. The report can be viewed in full here. You can read more about the announcement of the report's publication here.

Clare Duignan chaired the Task Force and the other members included:

• The Arts Council

• Business to Arts

• Council of the National Cultural Institutions

• County and City Management Association (CCMA)

• Department of Health

• Department of Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht

• Department of Social Protection

• Ealaín na Gaeltachta

• Events Industry Alliance

• Irish Congress of Trade Unions

• National Campaign for the Arts

• Irish Music Rights Organisation

• Irish Theatre Institute

• Screen Ireland

• Screen Producers Ireland

• Denise Chaila

• Martin Hayes

The latest information on the work of the Task Force can be found here.

Webinar on the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS)

The Arts Council hosted a webinar with colleagues from Revenue on 31 August to outline key changes in the transition from the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) to the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS). The webinar also dealt with aspects of the transition including qualifying criteria and compliance. For information, further details on the EWSS can be accessed in newly-published guidelines, available here.

You can watch the recorded webinar in full at: EWSS webinar