Mr. Brendan McGowan:

Deputy O’Sullivan asked how we have been impacted. We have been severely impacted. All the festivals were ready to go in March 2020. Some had already occurred, some had started and then had to stop midstream and even more never got a chance to run at all. The opportunity for our local communities and groups to show their wares and continue with the production circuit was lost. Many of those festivals had massive funding and had already spent it. It has not been recovered. Support will be needed to get those groups and events back up and running.

Without doubt, outside the Gaelic Athletics Association, GAA, the amateur drama community is the largest amateur community on this island. It reaches into every community, every parish, every town and every city. The contribution which amateur drama makes to the well-being of not only those people involved in the groups and the festivals but to communities in general is immeasurable. The groups themselves derive excellent benefits from attending festivals and experiencing audiences and receiving mentoring from our professional adjudicators. All that has been lost and it will take a while to build it back up again.