Mr. Frank Foley:

As a matter of research, I told some of our bursary recipients in the past couple of years about this meeting and asked them what they would consider important. One of them, a young lad starting up, is also appearing in The Commitments. He said maintenance grants are one important aspect. When he came out of school here, there was no funding or grants available to support him in going to Bird College, whereas he said up to £18,000 was available to some of the UK recipients at the college. He referred to having to take out three loans and his parents paying for him to attend Bird College. A girl from Wexford spoke about the performance arts not being talked about by career guidance teachers at second level. I am a career guidance teacher. There could be a change in that regard so that performing arts is not a dirty word but is presented along with banking and whatever other careers people want to pursue.

More could be done to convert teachers to the benefits that attach to the performing arts and a career in the performing arts.

There is very little done with regard to colleges. Many young people go to the Irish College of Musical Theatre, Ms Masterson's college, and the RIAM, but many are also going abroad. There are costs to families with regard to that. Our bursaries are quite small and a drop in the ocean compared with the costs of going to the UK to train.