Mr. Robert Donnelly:

I will refer to the fallout in this regard. Our musical societies take in many members between transition year and when those young people undertake their leaving certificates. Therefore, many new members who would normally have joined our societies in the past year and a half have lost out on the opportunity. We also hold an annual week-long residential summer school in Thurles for those aged between 16 and 18 years old. Those young people and our members have lost out on that opportunity as well. However, we still issued some bursaries and many people are still very interested in pursuing this profession. It is a good time to do so, because many Irish people are now performing on the world stage, on television, in the West End and on Broadway. The profession will be revitalised and re-energised once people see performances returning to the West End, for example, and these stars back working in London. The important thing is to get a roadmap to enable people to get back performing. In addition, given our numbers, we normally have about 40 people on stage in our productions. When those productions restart, though, at least initially, they will be smaller and fewer people will be on stage. Unfortunately, that will reduce opportunities for many people. The sooner we get back into operation the better.