MINISTER IS BLASTED FOR GRAVE ‘INSULT’ TO MUSICIANS Brian Kennedy joins chorus of criticism over remarks
MUSICIANS have hit back at Minister Heather Hum- phreys over comments that some people will need to retrain and get new jobs.
In the Dáil, the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection said she had asked her officials ‘to ensure that a sensible approach is taken for those who cannot return to work and who are waiting for their job to come back’.
She said a ‘realistic’ policy was needed due to the pandemic as ‘some jobs will not come back and there is no point in waiting for the never never.
‘It is best that we help people to reskill, retrain and look at other jobs
they can take up.’ However, singersongwriter Brian Kennedy told the Irish Daily Mail that he found the remarks ‘insulting’ and called on the Government to respect those in the arts rather than pay lip-service when they are nominated for awards on the world stage.
He said: ‘On one hand, you have people praising Normal People and the success and the Emmy nominations. Then, on the other, you are telling people in the arts to go and get a “normal job”.
‘I have been a musician for over 20 years, I have never not done music. I don’t think I would know how to not be a musician.’
He went on: ‘Yes, it is of course an insult. It is also a profound misunderstanding of the arts and artists. This is not “a hobby” for us, it is our jobs and our livelihoods and for the most part we have working and honing our craft over many years.
‘This is the time we need all the help we can get from the Government. They should be more proactive and not be telling people to “go and get a job”.
‘But if we don’t get help and support there will be no future Van
‘There’ll be no more Van Morrisons’
Morrisons and that’s a certainty.’
Country music superstar Mike Denver, who last played a gig on March 8, said: ‘I certainly couldn’t agree with what the Minister said, but what is most worrying is that the Government don’t appear to have a proper plan in place.
‘If somebody could come to me and say: “Mike, this is when the hotels will be allowed have a certain amount of punters into a gig,” I could live with that, even if it was a limited audience – at least I’d know when I was going back to work.
‘There seems to be an attitude of almost disregard for those of us in the music game as if all of a sudden we could pick up a paintbrush and start painting houses for a living.
‘You have to remember that musicians don’t get to be musicians overnight. For those of us in the business we have started out as youngsters and dedicated our lives to it. We can’t suddenly be expected to switch trades after all these years.
‘It seems to me as if the whole arts scene – music, literature everything – is never taken seriously until it suits somebody’s purpose to do it, and there is no thought given to the social outlet it provides.
‘The bottom line is musicians have a job. They are just unable to do it at the moment. It is not that they don’t want to work. I can tell you the opposite is the case, but to suggest they should be able to begin a completely different type of work seems unrealistic to me.’
Rock musician Jimmy Smyth, who fronts the Bogey Boys group, also blasted Ms Humphrey’s comments.
He said: ‘This woman was formerly the Minister for Arts and yet here she is telling someone like me, who has a job as a musician but can’t actually do it at the moment due to Covid-19, that I should look for other types of work.
‘I am 61 years of age and I have been in this business for 50 years, and yet she wants me to work at something else just because the pandemic has stopped me doing my job.
‘Would she expect a carpenter to become a plumber after all his years as an apprentice or an electrician to become a welder? Yet she has no problem telling a musician he has to take up a new line of work.
‘She belongs to a group of politicians who will go abroad and hold up the likes of U2, Beckett, Van Morrison and Brendan Behan as brilliant examples of how the arts is a success in Ireland and then return home to pursue slash and burn policies against those involved in that area.’
Miami Showband massacre survivor Stephen Travers said: ‘Most musicians work for less than they are worth in any event.
‘They cannot be an afterthought for politicians. They work over periods like Christmas when everyone else is relaxing and the Minister’s comments seem harsh.’
Ireland’s leading classical guitarist, Pat Coldrick, also hit out at the remarks, saying: ‘I read them and thought it was a ridiculous thing to say.
‘I’ve seen it over the years where politicians treat those involved in the arts as second-rate citizens.
They regard anyone involved in the entertainment industry as not really having a proper job.
‘They pay lip service to the arts and that’s about it; they certainly don’t incentivise anyone to get involved in the area.’
The Music and Entertainment Association of Ireland (MEAI) has been lobbying the Government over the issue, which spokesman Jackie Conboy says leaves entertainers in a Catch-22 situation.
‘If an entertainer gets a call to do a gig, they are afraid to do it in case their payment is stopped because they are working. But if they turn it down, they can have their payment stopped for refusing work.
‘Our organisation has asked to sit down with Heather Humphreys and thrash out a solution. We also want to speak to Catherine Martin, the current arts minister.
‘Look, it needs to be resolved as soon as possible in the interests of everybody.’
‘They pay lip service to the arts and that’s it’