Mr. Declan Conlon:

When I speak of a casting problem, I am not necessarily speaking about it for myself. I have been working for 30 years and I do not need a casting department as much in the theatre in Ireland. I raise it because at our meeting last week, a number of young actors who were just out of drama school were very vocal about how they have no connection to the national theatre. They have no access. In a permanent casting department, there would be a person whose job it is to go to small fringe shows in the city to see people starting out, whether in pub theatres or wherever else they are doing the shows, build relationships with them, bring them into audition, recognise them and nurture their talent over time. An independent casting director cannot do that. He or she will have lots of gigs on at the same time and may be working on a television show and a film simultaneously. This means knocking out the job because he or she has various other jobs on at the same time. It is not the same thing and it does not nurture young talent. When I heard those young actors discuss this at that meeting I was genuinely heartbroken for them because they felt they had no opportunity.