Mr. Brendan McGowan:

I will not respond specifically to Deputy Dillon but will answer the question Senator Malcolm Byrne asked about how much notice we need. We need immediate notice although I know that is not possible. We have a one-night circuit scheduled to start in October and run through to December.

What have we been doing in the meantime? We have been doing reach-out programmes to our drama groups. The Amateur Dramatic Council of Ireland, ADCI, has had lockdown conversations online. We very much appreciate the funding and the pilot scheme that were announced last week. However, to put it into perspective, that €250,000 is approximately 0.25% or 0.3% of the total allocation the Arts Council might get. This is not any fault of the Arts Council and funding comes to the council from central Government. If that 0.25% or 0.3% became 5%, it would allow us ample scope to repair the damage that has been done by Covid-19. It would allow us to move along, open our festivals and get our drama groups meeting and rehearsing again.