*Updated Sunday 20 September 2020

Minister for Arts Catherine Martin has announced that former managing director of RTÉ Radio Clare Duignan will chair the new taskforce on arts and culture and that hip hop artist Denise Chaila and fiddle-player Martin Hayes have been appointed also. The taskforce has been asked to issue an action plan for the sector by 31 October 2020.

The full membership of the taskforce is as follows:

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 terms for reference for the taskforce state that it should ‘adopt a solution-focused approach’, ‘identify possible policy initiatives or impediments to a robust sustainable recovery in the sector’, and ‘recommend whole of Government policy initiatives and actions to support the sector.’

For more, visit www.chg.gov.ie/artstaskforce.