Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I am acutely aware of the significant impact that the Covid-19 crisis continues to have on the sectors my Department supports. The framework of restrictive measures is a risk management strategy designed to allow individuals, families, businesses and services to better understand, anticipate and prepare for the measures Government might introduce in response to the escalation of transmission of Covid-19.

The priority in level 3 is to keep health services, schools and early learning and childcare services open and to minimise disruption in the workforce. To keep people safe, the public are asked to reduce the number of people they meet to a minimum and stay in their own county until 18 December. Tourism, culture, arts, Gaeltacht, sports and media activities usually involve audiences and people congregating. This is the very thing that health experts advise that we try to minimise. We need to reduce the number of people congregating across a range of settings to reduce the spread of the virus.

As the Deputy will be aware, from 1 December the country has moved to a modified version of level 3 of the Government's plan for living with Covid-19. Under these restrictions, all dance and exercise classes remain suspended. However, there is provision for individual and one-to-one instruction at this level and, to clarify, this guidance applies to sport, exercise and dance. While dance studios are closed at level 3, they can provide facilities for use in individual dance practice or training.

The Arts Council is in the process of preparing guidance on individual dance practice or training, which will be available early next week. In the meantime, the Sport Ireland guidance the Deputy referred to for individual training may be used. This is available on the Sport Ireland website, and measures to reduce the risk from one-to-one instruction under this guidance include staggered start and finish times, combined with appropriate entry, exit and traffic management protocols to limit the interaction of participants at any one time; pre-booking, which is essential; participants arriving ready to train and leaving immediately; no equipment sharing; and activities taking place in a predefined area that is visually marked out and directionally signed. The space required in this area should reflect the nature and intensity of the activity, and there should be in excess of 2 m social distancing between each of the predefined areas. The cleaning and ventilation of facilities should be conducted in accordance with the Government's most recent Work Safely Protocol, and instructors should refer to HSE guidance on wearing a face mask covering.

While these measures mean that individual activities can take place, individual training and one-to-one instruction should not be viewed as a way of reintroducing organised dance classes, which are specifically precluded under current public health measures. However, as I said, the provision is there for individual one-to-one instruction as I have described at this level. To clarify again, this guidance applies to sport, exercise and dance. While there is understandable frustration in many sectors about the current restrictions, the focus in the run-up to Christmas is on allowing as many activities to proceed as possible while at the same time being mindful of the priority of safeguarding public health. I will continue to engage with all sectors over the coming weeks with a view to working towards the full and safe reopening of society and all individual and group activities as public health allows.

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