Dr. Pauric Travers:

I sympathise with the point made by the Deputy. I too have no vested interest in music other than having a strong interest in listening to all kinds of Irish music. How impressive Irish music is across the board in its range and quality is acknowledged internationally. That should be reflected on the national airwaves and locally. I compliment local radio stations on what they do in this area. I listen to Ocean FM rather than Highland Radio because I am from south Donegal. I note its listenership figures for Irish music airtime are very impressive. The commercial radio sector does not have any specific requirements. However, when they apply for a licence, as part of their submissions, they are asked about the commitments to Irish music. Part of the role of the authority is to monitor that. By and large, they are doing a an outstanding job because there is a listenership market for this music.

The Deputy may well ask why that should not apply nationally. Clearly, a broader range of interests have to be served nationally. I could point to very significant programmes on RTE, TG4 and Raidió na Gaeltachta that contain a significant amount of Irish music. It is appropriate to monitor and promote this.

On having a French system of airplay quotas, the French have a long tradition of that both in film and music. They argue this on cultural grounds but there is a specific linguistic issue in France which makes the French analogy not quite identical to the Irish one. Rather than going down the French route, it would be more preferable to persuade people of the quality of Irish music, both traditional and in other genres. The proof of the pudding is in the high listenership figures for those local radio programmes. I agree that, in so far as there is a perception that this market is not well served by the national broadcaster, we should encourage it to do so.