Electric Picnic and crowds at Croke Park could all return this summer with trial gigs on the cards for as soon as June, it emerged yesterday.
Arts Minister Catherine Martin said she aims to have both indoor and outdoor events back on soon, with outdoor trial gigs as soon as June.
Ms Martin has spoken to leading concert promoters Festival Republic the organisers of the Liverpool concert that saw thousands dancing together on May 2 as part of the trials plan.
She said: I am absolutely keen and determined to have a number of test, live events across our music and cultural entertainment.
Id like these to happen indoors and outdoors, Dublin and outside Dublin.
Were in consultation with those who have run these events, for example, I met with Festival Republic last week, they ran the Sefton Park gig in Liverpool.
They have submitted a proposal to me on coordination and managing live events here and Im in consultation now with the Department of Health and the Department of the Taoiseach in relation to that.
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I think July latest, but Id be more ambitious than that. Id like to see some live music events, test events, take place in June because these venues and our performers have been stopped by the pandemic from earning a living.
And we have missed performance so Im determined to make that happen as soon as possible and so I would look towards some test events in June.
Well start with outside first but Ill also be planning inside too.
Meanwhile, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said he has not ruled out the return of major music festivals such as Electric Picnic later this year.
He also said he would like to think fans could get back to GAA matches at the All Ireland final in Croke Park in the autumn.
He said once variants arent of concern and there is a high uptake of vaccines then these events are all a possibility.
When asked about Electric Picnic going ahead in September, Dr Holohan was non-committal but said it would be up for consideration later in the year.
He said: Were getting ahead to lets say, making an absolute prediction around [Electric Picnic] but Id like to think that if we found ourselves in a situation where we had really good progress, in terms of the vaccine, where we didnt run in to any difficulties relating to variants and so on, that some of the things that are not now possible including outdoor events of the kind that youve described [Electric Picnic], might be things we can think about.
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On the return of sporting fans to stadiums later in the year, the top doctor said: Id really like to think so.
One of the things that are going to be important in all of that, as well as keeping the disease at very low levels of transmission through continued observance of public health measures, would be getting the vaccine uptake as high as possible.
The more people we get vaccinated the higher the chance we have of getting a return of all the things we dearly want to see.
Minister for Sport Jack Chambers said trials to bring spectators back to sports venues will begin as soon as the start of July with special public health provisions including possible antigen testing and/or PCR testing for match goers.
Personalised ticketing, mask-wearing and staggered entry and exit for all fans are being considered to make it as safe as possible.
Mr Chambers revealed details of the eagerly-anticipated return for spectators during an interview on RTEs Today with Claire Byrne on Monday morning.
He said: Theres a huge amount of urgency from me and were really ambitious and optimistic about getting fans back at games and I think were all looking forward to seeing, whether its our county team or our League of Ireland team, back.
Just to give a bit of background, we had a return to spectators plan that was formulated last October.
I met with the chair of that last week, Martin Murphy, and theyre updating that plan now and the guidelines around it, for example, taking account of the updated vaccination effect, that has to be incorporated because it could allow for more people in the stands than theyd thought originally.
Mr Chambers added: What we want to do is get this right.
What we dont want to see is a mass number of people where its not planned, its not controlled and we have potentially a superspreader event.
Guidelines are there, its a very comprehensive document.
What were doing is updating to include, for example, antigen testing or PCR, if you take an example, there was a League Cup game in the UK where they had about 8,000 in a 90,000 capacity.
So in the previous document, just to give people a sense of what we have, obviously the fan journey will be very important, so it will be personalised ticketing, therell be staggered entry and exit.
Obviously when we get a return to spectators people may have to arrive at a particular time so we avoid congregation before and after the game, theyd have to leave a little later.
Were also trying to ensure, if you take the numbers, in the original document we had 5% as a starter capacity, which would be about 4,000, 5,000 in Croke Park, then up to a two metre distance would allow up to 15,000 in Croke Park, one metre distance about 30,000, so theyre the ballpark capacity.
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The Minister confirmed that these test events would be in early July and that if they worked out well capacity could be expanded upwards over the summer.