Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the members of the MEAI, including Mr. Butler, for joining us today. The MEAI has become an extraordinarily effective and powerful voice for a sector, the Irish music industry, that was pretty much voiceless. It emerged from the ashes of the pandemic and was crucial in seeking support from the Government for the sector throughout the pandemic. Thankfully, many artists emerged relatively unscathed as a result of the MEAI's good work. I thank its members for their commitment.

Mr. Butler mentioned a strategy, as did Senator Cassells. I recall Willie Penrose trying to make the case many years ago for some kind of legal imposition on all broadcasters to broadcast a certain percentage of Irish music. The Irish music industry as a whole, including the Irish Music Rights Organisation, IMRO, got behind it at the time, but it did not go anywhere because many issues arose about how to define Irish music and whether it was appropriate to dictate to what are mainly commercial entities as to what they can and cannot play. That is not the direction we need to head in, but we need to explore to a great extent the possibility of developing a national music strategy.

If we consider Ireland internationally and how people abroad perceive us, we note we are perceived to be exceptionally creative and culturally rich. That has arisen because of people such as U2, The Cranberries, Westlife and all the artists who have emerged from this island and gone on to become global powerhouses in the music industry. People might ask why Ireland of all places needs a national music strategy. Right now, the next U2 or The Cranberries could be sitting in someone's bedroom and they are finding it immensely difficult to record, because it is an expensive process; to get airplay; and to get any kind of traction in the world of music. It would be a horrendous shame if all that talent has the potential to emerge and become a global phenomenon and we do not have the support mechanisms in place to allow it to happen.

Let us look at one example. Many countries are now developing national music strategies, but Korea did so in 1997. The economy crashed in Korea. They looked at one another and asked where their strengths were. One they identified immediately after the crash was their culture, including the music industry and its potential to form a huge part of its economy in the future. Twenty years later, we see the phenomenon that is K-pop. Someone sent me a YouTube video recently of Mr. Gangnam, who Senator Warfield might be familiar with. I do not know the guy's name. He fills massive stadiums all over the world. A whole other genre emerged from a country that in the past was never considered to be a cultural or musical powerhouse: Korea, of all places. It was done because of an incredibly focused, well co-ordinated and all-encompassing national music strategy that every aspect of the government bought into developing. Now we see places such as Thailand, Zimbabwe, China and Mexico looking at the example Korea set in supporting its artists and the pride that has emanated from that.

If we are seeking to develop that ecosystem in Ireland so that perhaps in ten years' time something extraordinary could emerge from it, who should be part of it? Who has a critical role to play in the development of a national strategy? I would argue that the Department we discuss every week, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, has a huge role to play, as does the Arts Council, the coimisiún, RTÉ and all those who have expertise in the world of music and music production and dissemination. I would be interested to hear MEAI's perspective on who should be involved and how we should go about doing it.