Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish Ms Doherty well in her new role and do not doubt she has the capability, competence and experience to fulfil it in a very meaningful way. Along with a number of other people in different positions, I have a bee in my bonnet which, hopefully, will be addressed with a new broom and a new board. Something I think Ms Doherty and the RTE board should seriously examine is the failure to give an opportunity to Irish musicians across the airwaves.

I am very strongly supportive of the concept of public service broadcasting and am a strong advocate of it, but I have to say there has been a huge failure in this regard. Notwithstanding the great PR replies that come from RTE - it sent me a reply with four pages, it was a model of PR - musicians do not complain unless there is a legitimate reason. There would be thousands of jobs in the morning if they got proper advocacy, opportunity and fair play. There are 8,000 jobs. Ms Doherty knows this as well as anybody. This is coming from people like Johnny Duhan, Steven Travers and all those people at the coal-face. It is a huge industry and RTE is not playing its role. It is easier for the camel to get through the eye of a needle than for certain acts to get on RTE. I have evidence of that.

I know six brothers, the Willoughby brothers in County Wicklow. It is so unusual to get six brothers talking, let alone singing and all of them well-trained singers. They happen to be all-Ireland handballers as well and they reflect everything that is in the culture. They have made numerous efforts to get on RTE but it is the same old faces that come out.

Ireland exists outside of the Pale, outside of the outer rim of Dublin. There is a heartland there, which most of us in this room represent. There are people like Mike Denver, Jason Travers, Nathan Carter, Derek Ryan, Michael English, Robert Mizzell and Johnny Brady, who are all doing very well. They are bringing the people back into the ballrooms, despite not getting decent air-play on RTE, not because of it. People are paying for their albums and paying for the music and employing people. These musicians are a major employer.

The BBC gives opportunities for new acts to get on the scene. France has a quota system. I know the broadcasting authority and will be putting this question to it. I want to know if Ms Doherty will support the idea of a quota system. Our music is part of our culture. I am not talking about any particular genre - it stretches from U2, The Coronas, The Script, right through to Mary Black, Christy Moore and then to Carter and the country and western scene. I believe it has been denied exposure. When we were growing up we listened to programmes in the evenings that reflected all that. Now that has been wiped. I know Ronan Collins and John Credon play a bit and Kieran Hanrahan is good for the traditional music on a Saturday night but that is all.

Does Ms Doherty realise that over a quarter of a million people attend the Fleadh? U2 would not get that in the Phoenix Park, and it is part of what we are. Will RTE grab the ball here and start changing its outlook? It should give those people a fair chance. Further, will it meet representatives of the music industry rather than saying it provides a small slot in its scheduling to address this issue. As I said before in the Dáil, even if there was a quota system, could it work here? There is no use in having Kylie Minogue coming over to the Windmill Lane studios recording something and then declaring that what she has done is Irish. Kylie Minogue is then played and the output comes from Ireland.

The people who are on the coal face, tramping the highways and byways of Ireland, are the people I want to see given an opportunity in RTE. It is our biggest broadcaster. I support paying the licence fee but I want to see everybody given a level playing field. It is no use playing somebody who is just coming in, recording here and then saying it is Irish. It is only a bit of an Irish production, which will satisfy output requirements but no more than that.

The approach I advocate works in France. Everybody has this idea that it does not work. I know that when the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland introduces licences that target specific audiences, there is a condition that a certain percentage of the output must be Irish. There is no use in trotting out the same old excuse. I have researched this matter. Would Ms Doherty support the introduction of a quota system that would ensure Irish artists get an opportunity? I have been given an assurance that if RTE played such a role, it would generate 8,000 jobs, not just in large urban centres but right across the rural areas that most of us represent. We can imagine the excitement that would result from those jobs.

I would like to make a final point before I conclude. The Chairman is more familiar than anyone here with the activities of people like Paul Claffey and Gerry Glennon at Ireland West Music Television because its studios are located in his local area. It broadcasts five hours of Irish music on channel 266 every night. An hour of Irish music is also available on channel 191 every night. Why can RTE not do that? Why is it just left to these channels? People like Paul Claffey and Gerry Glennon have done a great job of getting out all these artists, who will confirm that such publicity gets people to follow them and pay through the door, which creates employment for doormen, salesmen, recording artists, studios and transport companies, etc. I ask officials from RTE to meet representatives of these organisations to hear at first hand what they have to say, rather than dismissing them with a cursory wave of the hand. I have been subject to such treatment in recent months.