Dance schools reopening
Deputy Higgins seeks clarity on indoor individual training and equal treatment for dance and sport. The Tánaiste says he cannot commit immediately but agrees the rules for indoor sport and dance should be the same and will feed the issue into upcoming discussions.
We are all hoping for good news tomorrow and we all want individual training to be able to recommence indoors from 7 June, as planned. I recently received confirmation from the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, that when it comes to lifting restrictions, the guidance for performing arts and dance will be the exact same as for sport. That means we will be treating our children who play sport the same as children who dance, and that is really welcome. Before Christmas, dance schools in my area were able to return to practice under individual training guidelines. Approved Sport Ireland guidance allowed an agreed number of dancers to be socially distant in a safe space and to train together under the supervision of an instructor. Can the Tánaiste promise our children, who have been missing out on so much for so long, clarity on when dancing and performing arts can return indoors? Will he ask for that clarity to be given tomorrow during the announcement? Children and their dance and performing arts teachers want to know, and they deserve to know, that they are not an afterthought and they will not be overlooked.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy. I express my admiration for the Deputy’s commitment to this issue, which I know she has raised on a number of occasions on behalf of parents and children. I cannot make any commitment today but, once again, she has put it firmly on my radar and that will feed into the discussions we have tonight and tomorrow. I think the indication given by the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, is that the rules we apply to indoor training for sport should be the same as those for dance, and that seems logical to me.