Publication
Sectoral guidance regarding Level 5 of the Plan for Living with COVID-19
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
From Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Published on
Last updated on
Ireland is now at Level 5 of the government’s Plan for Living with COVID-19. This document may be subject to change.
The Minister is cognisant of the significant impact the COVID-19 crisis has and continues to have on the sectors her department supports. The recent announcement of the move to Level 5 of the government’s Plan for Living with COVID-19 means that many of the sectors within the department’s remit will effectively cease to operate for the six weeks duration of Level 5. This is because the public health risk is deemed such that people are being asked to stay at home, apart from essential workers, or children and teachers going to school.
This is necessary to limit our contacts and avoid congregating.
The reasons for this are to:
Tourism, Culture, Arts and Sports and Gaeltacht activities usually involve audiences and people congregating. This is the very thing the government is trying to minimise.
We need to reduce the number of people congregating across a range of settings in order to reduce the spread of the virus. The more we work together to reduce the level of the virus circulating - the more activity we will be able to have in our communities.
This is a key principle underpinning the 5 Levels of the government’s Plan for Living with COVID-19.
As such, the following arrangements apply under the Level 5 restrictions announced on 19 October:
The following section sets out the conditions under Level 5 of the Plan in more detail.
No organised indoor gatherings should take place.
These are controlled environments with a named event organiser, owner or manager.
For example: business, training events, conferences, events in theatres and cinemas or other arts events (excluding sport).
No organised outdoor gatherings should take place.
These are controlled environments with a named event organiser, owner or manager.
For example: outdoor Arts events, training events.
Up to 25 guests for ceremony and reception (excluding staff).
Up to 25 mourners.
Individual training only. No exercise or dance classes can take place.
Exceptions:
In line with current NPHET advice in respect of Level 5, professional, elite sports and senior inter-county Gaelic games, horse-racing and greyhound racing can continue behind closed doors.
Non-contact “organised training” for school-aged children may continue, outdoors and in pods of 15.
Children can travel outside their 5 kilometre limit to attend “organised training”, which is defined as:
No matches or events to take place with the exception of professional and elite sport/senior inter-county/horse-racing and greyhound racing, which can take place behind closed doors.
Gyms/leisure centres/swimming pools closed.
All venues closed.
This includes National Cultural Institutions, art galleries, museums, concert halls, theatres and tourist attractions.
Online services available.
Take-away food or delivery only.
Staff canteens and hotels where people are residing on the premises are exempted.
Take-away or delivery only.
Wet pubs in Dublin remain closed.
These remain closed.
Open but only for those with essential non-social and non-tourist purposes.
Essential retail and essential services only.
All other retail and personal services closed.
Face coverings must be worn.
Work from home unless essential for work, which is an essential health, social care, or other essential service and cannot be done from home.
There is a broad range of sectoral guidance available to our stakeholders set out below.
Sport Ireland has prepared a broad range of guidance to support NGBs and sporting organisations. These include:
Further guidance is currently being developed by the Expert Advisory Group on Sport.
Fáilte Ireland has prepared a range of sector specific guidance for hotels, B&B's, restaurants and bars.
Theatre Forum has developed guidance for Indoor Theatres and Arts Centres on managing audience assembly.
The Arts Council and Fáilte Ireland are in partnership to develop additional guidance for the arts and culture sector.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has developed guidance for youth work services.
It should be noted that youth work is defined as a planned programme of education designed for the purpose of aiding and enhancing the personal and social development of young persons through their voluntary participation, is complementary to their formal, academic or vocational education and training and is provided primarily by voluntary youth work organisations. While this definition may include arts, culture and sport activities, providers should ensure when applying the guidelines that they meet the conditions of the definition.
Some of the key measures introduced to date to help support the tourism, arts, culture and sports sectors include:
The universal income supports of PUP and the wage subsidy scheme have been key to supporting to all sectors thorough this crisis; the extension of both of these schemes has provided some much needed certainty.
As part of a record budget allocation of over €1 billion, the Minister has announced the following measures:
As part of the announcement of Level 5 restrictions, the government has announced the following changes to the PUP and EWSS. The new payment structure for the PUP is as follows, with the rate of €350 restored to those who were earning in excess of €400 per week:
| Prior Weekly Earnings (Gross) | PUP payment |
| <€200 | €203 |
| €200 - €299.99 | €250 |
| €300 - €399.99 | €300 |
| €400 or more | €350 |
This change to payment rates will apply for payments issued from Tuesday 27 October (PUP is paid weekly on a Tuesday) in respect of all existing and new applicants.
The EWSS is also being amended to align with the amendment to PUP. This means there will be 5 payment rates/bands as follows:
The main aim of this scheme is to ensure where possible employees retain their link with their employer rather than become unemployed. This revised scheme will run to end January 2021.