Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for being late. I was struck by the comment made about drama here in Leinster House. Some people think there is already a drama group here and we would not need to set one up.

Regarding outdoor spaces, this is the way to go. During the Covid-19 pandemic, several community groups in County Longford, where I am from, bought into this approach. We now have several outdoor spaces in place. I like the idea of something being kept centrally in the municipal district of the county council that could be moved around to various local areas if a performance was being put on, rather than going down the route of having significant capital spending, which would not be possible for every group. Where there are larger populations, we do need performance spaces as well as facilities for groups to practise in before putting on performances. At home in County Longford, I hear a lot about this point. We have many small drama groups in many local communities that struggle sometimes to find places to practise.

I am blessed. We have a wealth of talent in County Longford. We have a fantastic musical society in St. Mel's which has been operating for more than 40 years. I love attending every year and I will be back again next year. I forget now what the group will be doing, but it was only announced recently what that performance will be. We are also blessed to have a fantastic theatre like the Backstage Theatre, as well as the exhibition space in it. There is also a brilliant adult and youth theatre group. Additionally, there is the Evolution Stage School, which operates throughout the midlands but has a school based in Longford town. Hundreds of kids are learning various dance, song and music routines and putting on fantastic shows. These are the youngsters who then filter up into the musical society, the Longford Variety Group, etc. There are also dance schools. I think we have the Shawbrook and Peelo schools of dance in County Longford. For a small county, I we fight above our level with the amount of talent we have. A great deal of work is going into many voluntary organisations. Many people are putting in the effort to train people and put on fantastic entertainment for us throughout the year.