Mr. Danny McCarthy:

There is a total lack of support and I will tell the Vice Chairman why I say that. The facts are clear if one looks at the percentage of royalties going abroad. If we got 30% of air play, we could retain over €3 million per annum in royalties for Irish song writers and composers.

To answer the Vice Chairman's question, before the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland came into being, I asked the BCI how it categorised folk and traditional music and I discovered it categorised it as "country and Irish". We are not about country and Irish music. We are concerned with music that is identifiable from generation to generation. I do not accept Irish music being identified as "country and Irish". If the Vice Chairman wants to accept it be recognised on that basis, he is welcome to that, but certainly it does not reflect the music I represent here today.