Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 December 2020
247. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she will ensure Irish dancing is specifically included in any further announcement of lockdown restrictions or easing of restrictions made. [40254/20]
View answerI am fully cognisant of the significant impact the COVID-19 crisis has and continues to have on the sectors that my Department supports. The Framework for 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 COVID-19. Each level of the framework contains a “basket” of measures which are intended, collectively, to contribute to lowering risk of transmission in alignment with the risk level at that time. The set of measures, individually, do not comprise a list of activities or places which are equally safe. Instead, they are “baskets” of measures which are informed by public health understanding of the disease and recognise that we can and must prioritise some activities over others.
The priority in level 3 is to keep health services, schools and early learning and childcare services open and minimise disruption in the work force. In order 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. Furthermore people are asked to work from home unless absolutely necessary to attend in person.
Many of the sectors under the aegis of my Department involve audiences and people congregating. This is the very thing the Government is trying to minimise, we need to reduce the number of people congregating across a range of settings in order to reduce the spread of the virus. Unfortunately, this means that certain elements of the various sectors remain closed.
I fully recognise the importance of the Christmas season from social and community perspective, as well as from an economic perspective. In that context, Government has decided to make certain exemptions to help people celebrate this important time at the end of an extremely challenging year. In the context of the Deputy’s Question, the guidance specifies that no exercise or dance classes are allowed at Levels 3, 4 or 5. This precludes any exercise class, including gymnastics classes, and any type of dance class – traditional, step, jazz, or ballet. While classes are not allowed, individual training and one-to-one instruction can take place.
