The Minister for Social Protection has rejected claims that she said the Government had asked musicians and artists to retrain and reskill in other sectors.
Heather Humphreys said her comments in the Dáil referred to people who had permanently lost their jobs. During a Dáil debate on 29 July, Minister Humphreys said: "...we have to be realistic because some jobs will not come back and there is no point in waiting for the never ever.
It is best that we help people to reskill, retrain and look at other jobs they can take up". She was responding to a question from Sinn Féin TD Claire Kerrane who had asked about the position of the self-employed and part-time workers receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment.