Dr. Orfhlaith Ní Bhriain:

Yes, as an interim measure, certainly. To be recognised as being educational, of value and of cultural value would be immense. The problem is that dance, not just Irish dance, seems to have been singled out for particularly harsh treatment. In level 2, we abided by the pod system. We brought in a pod system and a return-to-class protocol because we wanted to play our part. I wish to make it clear that teachers bought into this. They rented bigger studios, secured more suitable venues with better ventilation, appointed Covid officers, drew up response plans, insisted on parental sign-off and so on. Those strategies have been put in place but as the committee will appreciate, circumstances will differ depending on whether one is in the community centre in Ballydehob or in the middle of Dublin. We have had to be quite expansive and allow for different circumstances and were willing to do so.

When we moved to level 3, we were forced into school sheds and outdoors for training. The guidelines expressly say that dance cannot happen. We had already cut out group dancing ourselves, of our own accord. That was very difficult for some teachers who do a lot of group and céilí work and the social cohesion obviously suffered. The children so much wanted to dance that we facilitated pods of five or multiple pods of five. We certainly could make that work. The strategies we have put in place mean we have tracing abilities through the sign-offs. We have followed those protocols, in line with our child protection policies which require us to appoint a designated liaison person. We are more than willing to do all of that and believe that would be fair.

When it became clear in August that levels 3 and above were going to be a more regular feature of our lives, we started to lobby Members of the Oireachtas. I am sure many committee members received multiple letters from me and I do not apologise for that because it is my job to represent our teachers. We have engaged in lobbying and initially we sent letters to every Deputy. We were advised that we should contact the Department of Health. We also wrote to NPHET because that seemed to be where a lot of the directives were originating. We felt that dance was in the remit of this committee and also of education. We had written to everybody but dance belongs with culture. We feel that culture is not discretionary. Furthermore, culture is education and should be seen thus.