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

Next year, no doubt, Irish radio will pull out all the stops and do what they do every St. Patrick's Day. As Mr. Duhan put it, they will fill the prime time airwaves with an array of the best Irish music that we have to offer.

Given that 2016 marks 100 years of Irish independence, the radio bosses that control our airways may even extend the remit for Irish music to be included in prime time playlists during the entire centenary year.

If we do not apply ourselves to enacting legislation to maintain a quota of 40% in the near future, things will not only revert to the way they are now, but practically no Irish music will be played on our prime time airways. Things will get much worse. We need to draw on the kind of courage that the men of 1916 found in themselves when they set out to forge an independent Irish republic so that we, in our time, can start to build a true national music culture, informed by the cultures of other countries, but forged primarily from the wealth of our own rich heritage. Our forebears would expect this of us and our descendants are entitled to no less.

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