2026-03-03

134. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the steps his Department is taking to update the codes of practice for live events, particularly live music events, to better facilitate live music performance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17202/26]

The national codes of practice governing events date from 1996 and 1998 and have not been formally updated in almost 30 years. This has left a situation where Dublin city, Cork, Galway, Kerry and Fingal local authorities have all introduced supplementary event guidance that have different criteria, documents needed and procedures. Will the Department push for the national code to be updated to support consistency in how we run live events nationally?

I thank the Deputy. I believe he is taking this for Deputy Gibney.

I am.

As Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, I am committed to the support and development of the live music industry. The Department, both through its own schemes as well as its funding of the Arts Council, provides support to a range of organisations that play essential roles in the development of music in Ireland. Last year, I launched the grassroots music venue support scheme, a night-time economy initiative to support independent music venues that promote themselves and are known in the community for programming grassroots music artists, in recognition of the contribution they make to the industry. The scheme operated with a total fund of €500,000 and grants of up to €15,000 were available to host events showcasing the talent of emerging, grassroots artists performing live music they had written or created themselves in 34 venues right across the country. This year, I have secured an increased allocation and committed €1 million in funding to support independent live performance venues with another edition of the grassroots music venue support scheme. Details of the scheme are currently being finalised. The Arts Council provides funding support to Irish arts centres and live performance venues which support year-round, high-quality, professional programming and infrastructure. In addition, the Commissions Award, funded through the Arts Council, supports individual music and opera artists and organisations, and festival organisers, to develop new work. The music capital scheme, which is supported by my Department and managed by Music Network, has been awarding individual musicians and organisations, by providing access to instruments for people across the country. These types of initiatives focus on supporting, nurturing and strengthening the live music sector, from the grassroots up by providing music education, employment opportunities for emerging artists and professionals. As Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, I have responsibility for policy and various funding streams that support the development of the live music sector. However, the codes of practice in relation to live events or music events does not fall under the remit of the Department. Codes of practice in relation to live events fall within the remit of a number of different bodies and Departments. The events industry is a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment and licensing is a matter for local authorities under regulations most recently amended under the Planning and Development (Licensing of Outdoor Events - Planning and Development Act 2000) Regulations 2025, SI 37 of 2025.

I appreciate that the Department oversees the funding of arts but there is a significant gap in the sense that the Department's budgets operate on a 2026 basis but the laws upon which these events occur date from 1996. That creates a problem. There is a gap in terms of regulation. If you have an event in Dublin, you have the same event in Galway and you have a similar event in Cork, you are dealing with different processes, different licensing and different paperwork. That creates gaps for people who only want to put on events. I appreciate the Minister is not the licensing body when it comes to events and that he is not the regulator when it comes to how these laws are developed but we need leadership here. If I talked to the Minister for housing, he would state this is not his role. If I talked to the Department of justice, it would say the same. Events need leadership and I suppose we are asking the Minister to demonstrate leadership in relation to these live events' codes.

I welcome the fact the Deputy acknowledged that this is not a responsibility for the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport. As I said a while ago, the planning legislation - this is a planning matter and events are covered under event licences - is a matter for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in the first instance but supports from an enterprise point of view are a matter for the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. As I said a while ago, the Planning and Development Act 2000 lay down with strict criteria how events are to be planned under event licensing. It is a matter for local authorities, and rightly so. If there was any attempt to remove event licensing from local authorities, the Deputy would have great difficulty with it from a Dublin city point of view as would a lot of his colleagues from around the country would because this is a local function that should be performed locally.

I am talking about updating events' codes, which are 30 years outdated. The Minister referenced the Department of housing, which has responsibility for planning and the Department of enterprise. He said surely I would not wish to interfere with local authorities but that creates a gap for those who wish to put on live events. There are very significant discrepancies between holding an event in one county and holding an event in another county. Deputy O'Donovan is the Minister with responsibility for arts and culture and the funding authority. Surely he can see there is a need to have a national standardised process if you want to hold a live event. Surely it does not matter if you are holding it in Cork or Limerick. There should be a standardised process and standardised paperwork. Of course, I value the night-time economy in Dublin. I understand the night-time economy in Dublin will be different from that in a town but the means by which I put on an event does not necessarily have to be different. The paperwork should be the same. The processes should be the same. Local authorities absolutely have a role in this in terms of support but the development of regulation guidance should be nationally standardised.

The Deputy is conflating as fact that all events are music events, which, of course, they are not. Some events are agricultural shows. Some events are religious events.

They do not have an event code.

It is a matter for planning. Event licensing is Ronseal - it does what it says on the tin. It is event licensing. It is a matter for the local authority, in the first instance, to decide whether to grant or not grant an event licence. You have everything from sports to agricultural shows to music to everything else. As much as I am Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, I am not Minister with regard to papal visits, agricultural shows or anything of that nature.

They do not have an event code.

The question that the Deputy asked was with regard to music performance but then he decided to go off on a tangent with regard to outdoor events.

Sorry-----

Deputy, you have had your time.

The Deputy said-----

-----the question states, "codes of practice for live events, particularly live music events, to better facilitate live music performance; and if he will make a statement on the matter." The Minister went off on a tangent from the question.

Deputy, you have had your time.

The Deputy said that you want all events consistent across the country and being handled by my Department. That is a physical impossibility because we are not a planning Department. As a former member of a local authority, the Deputy should know what the local authority does with regard to event licensing. Removing a power from a local authority would go down like a lead balloon with the Deputy's colleagues.