Church singing in Advent

Sir,– I was fascinated by the letter from the Rev Andy Carroll (December 9th). His calculations are fabulous.

What disturbs me when they are expanded to deal with a small (of four to eight members) professional choir singing in the Lady Chapel of the two cathedrals in Dublin, St Patrick’s and Christchurch, is that the public health guidelines make no sense.

When singing in the Lady Chapel of either cathedral, each chorister can be distanced over four metres apart, and be 50 to 100 metres from the congregation, with a physical barrier between the singers and the congregation.

I have long been a trenchant supporter of Nphet but is this a case of reductio ad absurdam?

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There clearly needs to be a more nuanced approach to avoid loss of public confidence, particularly at this time of renewal. – Yours, etc,

Prof PK PLUNKETT,

Clinical Professor

of Emergency Medicine,

Trinity College Dublin,

Dublin 2.