Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 December 2020
241. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the rationale behind the decision made regarding children’s gymnastic classes under level 3 of the living with Covid plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41678/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Government’s COVID-19 strategy, in line with the public health advice, is disease suppression. COVID-19 spreads when individuals and groups come into close contact with one another, enabling the virus to move from one person to another. The risk of infection spread is greater in certain environments than others e.g. uncontrolled environments, crowded and noisy places, indoor environments, and poorly ventilated spaces.
Given the current epidemiological situation, it has been necessary to put in place very significant restrictions to arrest the current trajectory of the disease and break transmission chains. This means asking people to stay at home and eliminating as much activity and contacts as is possible to ensure that opportunities for the virus to transmit are minimised, while allowing essential activities to continue.
I am cognisant of the significant impact the COVID-19 crisis has had, and continues to have, on the sports sector, including for the sport of gymnastics. 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. While the Government acknowledges the positive role sport and physical activity plays for physical and mental health, the scientific advice is clear that we need to reduce as much as possible the numbers of people congregating, in order to reduce the spread of the virus. For this reason, in the current Level 3 restrictions, no group training or exercise classes are permitted indoors, including children's gymnastics classes.
While children's gymnastics classes are not permitted in the current Level 3 restrictions, engagement with the sport sector is ongoing. I am committed to ensuring the earliest possible safe return of such classes. To that end I have recently written to all National Governing Bodies, including Gymnastics Ireland, seeking written submissions and all available evidence and data for the purposes of informing the development of tailored proposals and approaches for future mitigation measures. It is my objective that such submissions would enable the Government to review and potentially adapt the suite of public health measures currently applying to sport and exercise activities.
