Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and pay tribute to her own role in this because I know she takes a very keen interest and is concerned for many of the artists up and down the country. I do not want Mr. Fitzgerald, Mr. Finn or Mr. Sharpe to take what I am going to say as criticism because it is not. As the Chairman said, I have much experience from radio, some TV work and promoting artists in the past. I have a fair bit of experience. It is sometimes interesting to sit back and listen to a debate and the one thing I felt was coming through today was talk of revitalising the businesses, theatres and outdoor venues. However, the reality for the majority of musicians is that their working environment is in pubs and function rooms. While that was briefly mentioned, little was said about it. That is the backbone of much of the revenue that comes out of this business. Mr. Finn and others have made very important points but IMRO collects royalties and I would like to see more input from musicians and bands.

Deputy Cannon and others have mentioned that the money is not trickling down to some of our smaller artists. Many performers, engineers and musicians are not in a good situation financially. Those people do not really get anything out of royalties because royalties go to composers and arrangers. Roosky is a small village not far from where I live. If a local singer in Roosky performs "Sweet Caroline", for example, and submits his live playlist, it will be Neil Diamond who gets the royalty and not the performer.

Perhaps today is not the day to discuss it, but some day I would like to hear Mr. Finn explain the royalty process for both recorded and live performances because we have to look at all of these issues now due to what Covid has done. We must look at things completely differently.

I do not wish to take from the good contributions that have been made here and the good work that has been done. In many respects the Minister has given support. Mr. Finn was involved in distributing a grant for IMRO previously. First Music Contact, FMC, distributed the grant. Is there any intention to deliver another form of that grant? Is that possible? I would welcome his comments on that.

In general, it has been a good debate and discussion. I would like to see more engagement with the musicians on the ground. Let us not forget that while it is important to talk about theatres, it is also important to talk about live music, which will be very important because of Covid. I believe Covid will be here for a long time. We must address the issue of where the bulk of the musicians are coming from and their work environment, which is the pub and other places such as ballrooms. It is a huge factor financially on all of those.