Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my constituency colleague. It is nice to know he is watching my back. I compliment Mr. Tim Collins and Ocean FM on winning an international award recently for a documentary. Two matters arise from the comments that have been made. I believe this committee should support the view expressed by Tim Collins, that there are no barriers to providing state aid for public broadcasting obligations at local level. The committee should support that and when the time comes, we should make a decision on it.

Does the group collectively have a policy on the promotion of Irish artists? I am not talking about what RTE interprets as Irish artists, which is anything that is close to U2. Beyond that, it does not consider them. There is an indigenous country and Irish music industry and a strong lobby for its promotion. The fact that 400,000 people bought tickets for the Garth Brooks concerts surprised the Dublin 4 set. It proves there is a huge market for that type of easy listening, country and Irish music. I applaud those stations, many of which are represented here today, that have a policy of promoting Irish artists. I will not single them out, but they know to whom I am referring. I am talking about daytime promotion. However, there appears to be a perception that not all local stations are subscribing to that and that some go some of the way and some do not. That is the reason I ask if the group has a policy in that regard.

The local radio set-up has maintained, enhanced and provided valuable entertainment and, importantly, employment for the Irish music industry. Without it over the past 25 years, the industry would have died long ago. There is no question about that. I believe this is important now, particularly with a newer generation of country and Irish artists who have gone mainstream. Nathan Carter is able to come to a Dublin city theatre and fill it, as can Derek Ryan. Ten years ago that would not have happened. That is primarily due to the guys and girls in local radio. The network of Dublin stations does not necessarily promote it, but the stations have acknowledged it, at last. Building on that, has there been any serious debate about it within the representative group and does it have any policy on it?