Members of the live music sector are to meet Minister for Arts Catherine Martin this afternoon to discuss a roadmap for the return of live concerts and other cultural events in crunch talks.
Since March of 2020, the industry has been devastated after 520 days of closure and counting.
Meanwhile, 10,000 people were able to attend concerts in Belfast last week, with crowds being wowed by the likes of Tom Jones across a weeklong festival.
Lead singer of Irish band The Academic, Craig Fitzgerald, is one of those attending today's meeting, and he will be calling for the "insane" restrictions on live music to be lifted.
He told Newstalk: “Next week we are travelling across over to the UK to work and play music at Reading and Leeds, one of the biggest festivals and it is all going ahead as normal,” he said.
“It is just insane to think we will be doing that before we even have a clue if people can put on a gig in a pub or roadies and techs can get back to work.
“It is just insane that people’s livelihoods are coming back but it is not in the country they are living in.”
Fitzgerald also pointed out that plans had been in place for months in the UK - but this wasn't the case over here, with Electric Picnic being cancelled despite Ireland being very close to full vaccination.
He added: “There should have been plans put in place for people to know what’s going on.
“There are gigs announced for September and November and people are now starting to feel … Electric Picnic was the big hope and now that is gone and that has worried people.
“Now it is like, is this all just going to be swept away from us now at this stage?”
