A chorus of disapproval

Theatre people react...

Orlaith McBride, director, National Association of Youth Drama (NAYD)

"It's devastating; and it's particularly devastating for us in youth theatre in that the course offers a very real and natural progression route for young people coming into the profession. You don't have to pay to be in a youth theatre group - they're funded through local authority arts officers and through the Arts Council, supported by the NAYD. Students could then go through Trinity without having the huge fees they'd have elsewhere. In terms of the democratisation of theatre-making and the next generation of artists, it's awful. I really do believe we're a society that's genuflecting at the altar of business and commerce and economics, and that Trinity wouldn't have pulled any of those courses. In the arts we like to talk about 'parity of esteem'. But there you go."

Jimmy Fay, artistic director of Bedrock Productions and co-founder of the Dublin Fringe Festival

"It's really upsetting, because so many great young actors have come from the Trinity course. I didn't go there, but I've definitely benefited from the course existing, and have worked a good bit with some of the people who've graduated since it was set up in the 1980s. If people can't see the benefits the course has provided to the country - that people are actually thinking now about what they're doing as artists - it's insane."

Jane Daly, producer, Irish Theatre Institute (ITI)

"This course played an important part in actor training, with many of the graduates going on to national and international success, thus illustrating the quality of acting talent in Ireland. ITI hopes that this new gap in provision of acting training at third level will immediately be filled by another third-level institution, so that both young and mature students have the opportunity to study drama in Ireland."

Tadhg Murphy, course graduate, currently in rehearsal for Julius Caesar at the Abbey

"I understand the argument that you don't need to go to drama school to be an actor - that many successful actors never had any training. However, if I hadn't gone to actor training I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing today. I learned so much from that course; I also got an agent, who saw me in a show that I did in college. That allowed me to audition for other jobs, and slowly but surely start building up a career for myself."