Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 30 June 2021

Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport And Media

Challenges Facing Arts Venues and Theatres as a result of Covid-19: Discussion

Mr. Robert Donnelly:

In terms of what we need, like all the organisations, we need everything. We need our members to get back on stage and we need audiences in the hall. The biggest ask we have today is to give us a roadmap or plan for going forward and let us work with the Government and all the Departments to try to get venues safely open, get members performing safely and put on shows to the required standard for the same audience numbers we have in the past. Some of our shows could be used as test events. I watched Christy Moore in the Gleneagle Hotel last weekend and it was fantastic. The venue holds 2,000 people and there were 200 people. That is still only 10% of the INEC capacity, but it was great to see it back. We must try to do the same in small community halls and see how things will work there. We know the road ahead is long, but hopefully by the last quarter or at the end of this year we will be in a lot better situation.

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