Dublin buskers have expressed disappointment that they'll be banned from performing on the city streets over the Christmas period.
Dublin City Council says it cannot lift the ban on their permits until further notice, because of public health reasons.
However, an emergency motion was passed last night which looks to create solutions that allow performers to make an income.
Measures such as playing music through speakers on the streets or streaming videos online are being suggested as ways to help the artists.
'We have no job anymore'
Mick McLoughlin is a full-time busker on Henry Street, and he told Newstalk Breakfast that this time of the year is vital to his income.
He told Shane what's particularly disappointing is that 'no provisions' have been made to make the situation easier for buskers.
Mick said: "[The situation] is not good for especially the full-time buskers. The ones that do it as a job... we have no job anymore.
"The crowd-building situation doesn't really happen on Henry Street where I am, because there are only a handful of us.
"There are only four of us full-time buskers on Henry Street and then we will have the ones that will come in every so often."
Mick said most of the issues around crowd control happen on Grafton Street, because it is a tighter space where a 'small crowd looks bigger'.
He said when he's been out busking he has asked any small crowds that built up to distance themselves - something which 'worked fine'.
He's now calling for a compromise, saying Christmas in the capital 'is not Christmas' without buskers performing.
'Something creative'
Green Party councillor Donna Cooney - who put forward the DCC emergency motion - said she wants to solve the issue.
She told Lunchtime Live that this time of year is really important for street performers, but they haven't received the same supports as even other artists.
She said: "[Street performers] have fallen through the cracks, really, in terms of the supports that have come.
"I think we can do something creative... even if it has to be all online or recordings.
"Why play music of well-known artists on the speakers on Grafton Street - why not play the music of the buskers, and give them some sort of monetary pay for performances?"
She also suggested organising an online concert in January, to give buskers hope there'll be some money coming in in the early new year.
Designated areas
Kenan Flannery, meanwhile, has been busking for six years.
He said there are measures that could be put in place to create a safe environment for everyone.
He explained: "Maybe some sort of designated areas, cornered off - with the grounds marked... where you apply to the county council, and you get a time and date where you go into busk.
"Something like that has to be done - they have to act quick on this, and they can't leave us in the dark."
He said buskers have also been hit hard by the increased use of card and contactless payments, with fewer people carrying cash when out shopping.
