Dr. Orfhlaith Ní Bhriain:

Go raibh maith agaibh as na ceisteanna sin. It is very interesting and I very much appreciate members' valuing of the culture because that has always been one of the challenges for us in Irish music and dance. Sometimes they are not appreciated at home whereas they can sometimes be more appreciated on a global stage than at home afterwards. We therefore really appreciate the committee's giving us this audience because it speaks to our people that Irish dance and Irish music matter at home, in their own Tithe an Oireachtais.

As for the 2021 programme, our main idea now is to get back to class and get people dancing. Going back to Deputy Mythen's question as to whether dance is art or sport, I would like to think that the dancers think like artists but they have to train like athletes because dance is very physical. We want our dancers to be thinking dancers. When somebody is sent to an art class in the beginning, he or she might not be Picasso but there is that potential.

It is about feidireachtaí and we have to keep those feidireachtaí there as a solo form. They are trained and they become performance. Nobody was born a Riverdancer. They became a Riverdancer or a lead in "Lord of the Dance" after many years in their local hall, maybe, with somebody nurturing them that way. Our advocacy is for somebody to nurture this current generation of children so we will be able to carry forward our Irish dance legacy into the future, something that has shaped part of who we are for hundreds of years. We hope go leanfaidh sé sin ar aghaidh amach anseo freisin.. Tá sé ceangailte leis an teanga agus leis an mbrí a bheith i m’Éireannach. For me, coming from a family that has been involved in it since 1929, it is part of my blood, part of that whole manifestation of Irishness that is very public at home and abroad.

I thank the committee members for listening to us. We hope they will appreciate that all our parents and teachers are out rooting for us. If they want to see more, they can go home and look at David Geaney and the fabulous video they put out yesterday, which got thousands of views. That is a cry for help. That is a plea from every part of Ireland for people who say, "We want to dance". Whether we are jazz, ballet, sean-nós, Irish, or Comhdháil or any other organisation, we want to dance. Táimid ag iarraidh cothrom na Féinne don rince agus go háirithe don rince Gaelach. Gabhaim buíochas.