Sir, – The world championships in Irish dancing are being held in Dublin at the moment but I see no scheduled coverage with our State broadcaster.
If it was the world championships in a sport that involved moving a ball around a pitch, RTÉ would have wall to wall coverage. In my opinion Irish dancing involves a great deal of skill, artistry, athleticism, endurance, teamwork, but little of this will be shown, beyond perhaps a few minutes.
Anybody who attends an Irish dancing event knows Irish dancing involves predominately female participants. Perhaps this is another reason it receives far less coverage than any ball-related sport. Meanwhile, RTÉ pretends that it represents all Irish people, even those outside Dublin.
Given the number who develop a passion for Irish dancing in their youth, surely this Irish art form deserves at least an hour coverage a night from the network that gets my TV licence fee. The arts receive practically no funding in comparison to the cost of learning to play in instrument or learning a skill. Surely they deserve a fair proportion of the media coverage and we are entitled to enjoy the Irish art form at its height? – Yours, etc,
SE LYDON,
Wilton, Cork.