Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to warmly congratulate Deputy Willie Penrose on bringing forward this important Bill. The Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2016 will insert section 65A into the Broadcasting Act 2009 and provide for a quota of at least 40% to be allocated to Irish music or musical compositions that relate to some distinguishing element of the culture of our country.

When one looks at Irish music down through the decades, one sees a phenomenal pantheon of achievement by our music artists. We could spend the rest of tonight up to midnight reading out the names of great men and women who have contributed to the artistic life and culture of our country. Some of them are U2, the Script, Phil Coulter, Paul Brady, Van Morrison, Joe Dolan, Dickie Rock, Sinéad O'Connor, Hozier, Walking on Cars, Snow Patrol, Niall Horan, Thin Lizzy, Enya, Damien Rice, Glen Hansard, the Pogues, the great Christy Moore, Aslan, Nathan Carter, George Murphy, Paddy Casey and the great Damien Dempsey from my constituency. They represent a tiny fragment of the men and women who have done so much for our artistic life. To protect and develop it, particularly as a result of the new challenges we face in the digital age, it is critical that our 34 stations give that amount of airtime to Irish music.

I meant to mention a great man from the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's party, the former Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú, and the work of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann which down through the decades has done a phenomenal amount to teach instruments to our children. I am thinking also of the great O'Dwyer family of the Beara Peninsula, some of my own relations and the great tradition they and so many thousands of Irish families represent.

When one thinks of our great musical heritage, one must consider that other large English-speaking countries relentlessly push their own music. Our smaller EU partners and many other states in Latin America, Africa and Asia deliberately insist on good play time on the radio and television networks for their musicians. South Africa insists on 90% and I believe we should move in the same direction. If one thinks about great national musical traditions around the world, for example, the great musicians of Mali, Cuba or Jamaica, it is incontrovertible that major airplay on local stations has played a huge role in building up these traditions and encouraging and supporting these artists.

There is also huge issue with the power of IT companies like Apple, Google, YouTube and Spotify in the downloading and streaming of music. The ultimate benefits which accrue for composers and musicians is something this House will have to look at in the years to come and the fact that musicians often get such small returns for brilliant composition and playing. Down the years there have also been huge issues with the protection of copyright and royalties for Irish composers, especially in traditional music. I agree with the approach Deputy Penrose and the Labour Party have taken in this regard and by bringing such a group of our great musicians into Dáil Éireann tonight to publicise the Bill. It is a small but necessary step to cherish our musical heritage and to foster a love of Irish music for generations to come.

Deputy Pringle mentioned the new creative policy the Government has launched. It will need resources. In my constituency, and possibly in the Minister's, huge efforts are being made by great community activists like Finola Young to ensure every child in every school will have a musical instrument and that they will all be musically literate by the time they get to adulthood. We should have a total emphasis on our music and pushing it first and last in all genres in which our musicians are so brilliant.

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